Purple Rain
by BloodWingdAngel
Summary: AU. Everyone has a common goal in Inkopolis, to be the very best Turf Battler in the city. One girl, the daughter of an Inkling and an Octoling, has that same goal, but she must also keep her true self a secret from the world, even when the pressure of fame is trust onto her. Rated T for Language.
1. Prologue

**Hello everyone, and welcome to my Splatoon Story! This is actually a spiritual reboot of an older story I was working on, which is now deleted since this one has caught up with it. Most of the stuff is the same, with a few minor tweaks here and there. One quick notice, if you do not like this story, I completely understand, just please leave a review detailing what you didn't like, and some suggestive criticism. Please don't leave a review saying that you would rather self-harm then read this story, that won't help me improve as an author.**

 **Note (8/1/2017): As of Splatoon 2's official artbook; Nintendo has announced that Octolings actually reproduce asexually. This completely ruins the canon of this story... I have, however, thought of a way Octola could have a hybrid child, and while it may seem silly, it's really one of the only ways I could make it work, and thus I rewrote this chapter to accommodate for that, as well as will cover it in more detail in the sequel story. Also please don't flame me on Coral's status as a half-Inkling, half-Octoling. I wrote this BEFORE the Splatoon 2 artbook confirmed Octolings reproduce asexually, and tried to make Coral's existence work with this knowledge.**

 **That being said, enjoy!**

* * *

The Octarian cause was a simple one, yet those that were not Octarian themselves would call it insane. The Octarians were once a great and mighty species, but the rising sea levels forced their former friends, the Inkings, to do battle with the Octarians over turf. When the Great Turf War ended around 83 years ago, the Octarians were forced into the area now known as Octo-Valley, where they built themselves underground dwellings connected by kettles. These domes, however, didn't have much power, and slowly but surely, the Octarian army were currently beginning an uprising to take power from the Inklings just to survive.

For Octola, Elite Octoling for the Octarian Army, this cause was absolute.

The Octoling in question was looking around the dense valley, her Octoshot held at the ready. She wore the standard Octoling armor, and like all elites she had kelp in her hair. Unlike other Elites in the military, however, her hair was a dark purple color, instead of the standard black most Octolings in the elite seemed to possess. She was being followed by two Octotroopers, which resembled red octopus tentacles with faces on them.

Octola flinched just then, sensing something to her left. She pointed her Octoshot in that direction, but found nothing there. The Octotroopers, dumb but observant, started at her with intense interest, but they had started for too long, and she turned to them with her teeth bared.

"What are you looking at?" She hissed. "Keep scanning the area, you useless inkbrains!" At that, both Octotroopers quickly resumed scanning the area. Octola sighed, resuming her searching. Ever since Octavio spotted Inkling activity in the area, he had been sending patrols on the regular to search the entire valley for signs of Inkings, and although Octola knew no one had found anything, she was on high alert for a sign of Inklings. If she was to find an Inkling, her orders were to splat first, ask questions later.

Suddenly, a wave of blue ink splatted an Octotropper behind her. Octola turned in shock, watching as her other Octotropper was dispatched just as rapidly. She raised her gun, unsure of what attacked them, but when she looked at the thin lines on the ground leading to where her troppers were standing, she knew what had struck them down. "An Inkzooka."

"That would be correct," a deep voice behind her said. Octola turned sharply, her Octoshot pointed at the source of the voice. A dark blue colored Inkling stood there, his hair short and tied up in a low bun. He held in his hands a red Carbon Roller, and was wearing a set of Hero Gear. "Hi."

Octola didn't wait, instantly pulling the trigger of her weapon, but the guy was too fast for her, zipping around through the Ink he had already created to avoid her shots, occasionally resurfacing just long enough to throw Burst Bombs to have more ink to swim in. Octola ran out of ink quickly, and just as she dived back into the ink under her to refill, the dark blue Inkling zipped in front of her, tapping her with his roller to damage her and force her out of the ink, but not splat her. "Gotta admit, you actually give me a run for my money there, almost thought you would actually splat me."

Octola blinked, realizing that he was just now standing there. Although his roller was held firm, she had already recovered from the slight tap he gave her. She had also filled up enough to splat him, and if he even raised his roller to splat her, or tapped her again, she'd pull the trigger. "Are you an idiot? You are aware that this is the perfect opportunity to kill you, right?"

"I am aware," the dark blue Inkling replied. "But I don't think you will shoot me if you aren't given a reason to."

"Wanna bet, Inkling?" Octola growled, raising her Octoshot, pointing it at his heart. The Inkling didn't even flinch, something that Octola found infuriating. Why wasn't he afraid of her? Octola's mind was racing, but she quickly forced herself back to the task at hand. She needed to eliminate this Inkling under Octavio's orders, but while he was here, she might as well extract some information from him. "What are you doing down here?"

"The Captain wants us… well, me, to do regular patrols," he replied, looking at her with an expression that told her he wasn't found of these patrols. "He's off enjoying time with his kids, so he's off in Calamari Country. General Bay can't do it, since he's off on his honeymoon, so guess little ole me has gotta do it. Dull work too, don't even know what he wants me looking for. I've taken to just wondering around the valley, seeing the sites."

"Not much here," Octola replied coolly, her finger firmly on the trigger. "And you're an idiot for even bothering. I dunno what your 'captain' wants you looking for either, but you made a mistake crossing me."

"Did I?" He replied, looking at her with a smug grin. "I think you are the most interesting find I've had."

"Enough!" Octola roared. "You have taken my time for too long, Inkling!" She fired, but to her surprise, although her aim was true, he wasn't splatted. Two of her shots bounced off him before he dove back into his Ink to dodge the rest, swimming a bit back, before emerging and swinging his Carbon Roller. The ink slammed into her, knocking her back and stunning her. She fired again, but missed narrowly as he dove once again, swimming past her. "H-how did you?"

"Don't make me do that math, babe," the Inkling groaned.

"Babe?" Octola hissed, shaking in anger.

"Well, if you must know, I've done some studying on that weapon of yours," he dully replied, as if lecturing a child. "It would take three direct shots to kill me, normally. I got defense up on his gear, which means you'd probably need four shots. You only hit me with two. Gotta admit, if I didn't have good reaction time, you would've gotten me… maybe."

Hatred rose inside of Octola for the Inkling standing before her, but at the same time she couldn't help but be curious about him. He wasn't aiming to kill her, he was toying with her. He seemed very skilled, so if his goal was to kill her, he would have done it by now. "What do you find interesting about me anyway? I am an Octoling, you are an Inkling. We are supposed to hate one another!"

The Inkling frowned at that. "That is bull. Just because we are separate species, does it really mean we have to hate one another?"

"Well, yes!" Octola spat, raising her weapon at him again. "Octavio said-"

"Octavio?" The Inkling interrupted, laughing. "Your ruler, DJ king or whatever can hate the Inklings all he wants, but why do YOU hate us?"

Octola blinked at that. "I-I…" She then remembered her resolve, and glared at him, her weapon aimed at his head. "Your kind resides up in the world above, and we are forced to stay here, in the shadows with dwindling resources and no sun!"

The Inkling sighed. "I don't force you to stay here, hell if it was up to me your kind would be with us, doing Turf Battles and having fun."

"There is no fun in these battles," Octola said, looking down. "We fight not for play, but for victory, for survival." Silence filled the air then, and by the time Octola realized she let her guard down, the Inkling grabbed her weapon. She flinched, looking up to find her was very close to her, staring at her. "W-what!?"

"You really are not getting it, are you?" The Inkling muttered, his eyes locked onto her. "Look, if you and the rest of your kind learned to let go, maybe you and the Inklings could work something out, but if you let your heart be filled with hate, you won't get what you really want."

Octola growled at him, trying to wrestle her weapon from his grasp. "Y-you know nothing about what I want!"

"But I do know," The Inkling replied, looking up. "You want to live up there, where we live. Look, come meet me in a week, on top of the large Octopus shaped rock. I'll show you Inklings aren't bad, ok? Maybe I can get you to let go of some of that hate you carry within you."

He suddenly let go of her weapon, and before she could get a good grip to shoot him, he had sunk back into the ink and swam off. She raised her weapon and fired, but missed each shot. He finally popped up, turning to her and smirking. "Oh, and my name is Toru Reef, Agent Blue of the Squidbeek Splatoon."

He then vanished into the ink again, leaving the Octoling to herself. Octola growled, before yelling loudly, shooting everything around her in rage, coating everything within her range in a shade of fuchsia ink. She never, never, had anyone escape her like he did. It infuriated her, how casual he was, yet how strong he seemed to me. Was it because she wasn't as strong as she thought she was, or was it because of his skill?

She hated him, but under that hate she felt something else for him. A general interest in him, something that bugged her brain. She blinked, shaking her head, dismissing the thought instantly. "He's just some stupid, punk Inkling… put it out of your head, Octola. Next time you see him, he's dead." And on that note, she went off to deliver her report. But that entire week, her mind occasionally drifted back to the Inkling, Toru Reef. How skilled he seemed to be, and how calm he was in the face of danger. Her interest in him just festered overtime, and eventually, as much as she hated to admit it, she found herself wanting to go to the rock, just to meet him… to know him. By the time the week was over, her mind was made up.

"I was hoping you would come," Toru said, grinning as she walked forward. "I see you are not that trusting of me yet."

Octola smirked a little, holding her weapon to him. "I noticed you don't have a hand on your Carbon Roller." She gestured to the roller, which instead of on the Inkling's person, was leaning against the rock. "Your unarmed, and I have you in my sites. Try anything funny, and I will kill you, Inkling."

"Hey," He said, raising his arms up. "I won't hurt you. I came here to get to know you, that is all."

"Know me?" Octola asked, staring at him in shock. "What about me do you find so interesting anyway?"

"I could tell just by looking at you, you are tough," Toru complemented, smirking at her. "Probably the toughest Octoling in the army."

"If you are trying to flatter me, save it," Octola hissed, glaring a little. "There are several elites, each one as good at me, if not better."

"Bet you're wrong," Toru said, leaning forward. Octola tightened her grip on her weapon, but he made no move to advance. "But that Octoshot just… doesn't suit you."

"Doesn't suit- I beg your pardon!" Octola said, taking a single step forward. "I have you know that this is standard Octoling equipment!"

"And I just feel like you'd be better with something else," Toru replied, gesturing. Octola glared, but was curious. She looked toto her right to find a standard Splat Roller leaning against the other side of the rock. The weapon looked brand new, never used before, almost as if he had bought it at a store just for her to have. She turned back to him, her expression filled with interest. He smirked at her before speaking again. "I find rollers to be powerful weapons. Sure, you don't have the range of a gun, but in the right hands, the roller is an excellent weapon to have."

"You… are you giving me this?" Octola asked, staring at him with caution.

"I feel like the first steps toward peace between our people is some kind gestures, and this is one of them," Toru explained. "Just try it out and see how you like it."

Octola hesitated for a moment, before finally lowering her gun. "If you so much as move an inch, you will be killed."

"I understand completely," Toru responded, leaning a bit back with his hands still raised.

Octola put her Octoshot back into its holster, before walking forward and picking up the Splat Roller. It felt strange, but at the same time comfortable in her hand. She swung the roller, and globs of her dark purple ink fired from the roller, spreading across the ground. She was stunned at how much came out. Next, she placed the roller on the ground and ran around a bit with it, covering the ground in her ink. "This… this…"

"Feels natural?" Toru asked. "Yeah, I thought so. I feel the same whenever I use my Carbon Roller."

Octola gripped the weapon tightly, turning to Toru. "You just gave me something I find that I can use very well… and what makes you think that I won't just turn around and use this on you?"

"Because something tells me we just bounded a little," Toru answered her, a smile on his face.

For the first time in her life, Octola smiled at an Inkling. Not a rage filled, smile of hate, but a genuine smile of kindness.

XxXxXxX Two Years Later XxXxXxX

For the next two years, Octola continued meeting with Toru. The two of them found themselves drawn to each other, despite their kind being mortal enemies. Their meetings had to move a lot, however, as the Octarian Army could never find out what she was up to. It was the 85th anniversary of the Great Turf War when Octola and Toru met again, her face grim when he approached her under an old bridge. "Hey, you look down."

Octola sighed. "Well, today is the day we lost the Great Turf War. You tell me how I am supposed to feel…"

"Oh, right… forgot about that," Toru muttered embarrassed, sitting down next to her, putting his weapon down behind him.

"Can you answer a question for me," She said suddenly. "Do you think Octarians and Inklings will EVER get along?"

"It might take some time," Toru stated, sighing as he leaned back to look up at the metallic ceiling. "But eventually I think we can get along again. We didn't used to be enemies until the sea levels rose, and even then, I don't know why we had to fight." He then smirked, looking over at her. "I think we are proof that Octarians and Inklings can get along just fine… after all, you trust me enough now to completely lower your guard around me."

Octola smirked, turning to him. "Is that a fact? I'll have you know that I haven't lowered my guard completely. After all, we technically are still at war, and you are the enemy."

"Oh yeah?" Toru said, looking over at the Splat Roller. "That looks like lowered guard to me, babe."

"You're the idiot that has his guard completely lowered," Octola replied, sticking out her tongue at him.

"Well, I trust you," Toru replied, looking at her, no longer teasing.

"Do you now?" Octola asked, raising her eyebrow in interest.

"I do… in fact," Toru suddenly shut his eyes tightly. "There. Do whatever you want to me."

"Whatever I want?" Octola replied, caution filling her voice.

"Whatever you want," Toru sighed. "Kill me if that is what you really want to do, but I get the feeling that you won't actually do it."

Octola looked at him curiously, staring at him for what seemed like an eternity. It was too perfect, his guard was down and his eyes were shut, she could eliminate him right here and now, and destroy the same Inkling she failed to destroy two years ago. Her hand was inching towards her roller, trembling a bit, but Toru made no moves to react to her reach. His eyes really were closed, completely, and he wasn't peeking through them at all.

But just as she gripped her roller, guilt filled her entire being. For the last two years, she and Toru had been meeting on a regular basis to talk, laugh, and just get to know one another. She learned so much about him, like how he joined the Squidbeek Splatoon and how his ultimate dream was to settle down in a nice house with his grandsquids surrounding him, telling them stories from his past as a military man. She found herself drawn to him, and as she realized that, her heart skipped a beat as her red eyes widened, her grip on her roller gone.

"You're an idiot," Octola mumbled. Before he could respond, she turned sharply towards him and kissed him. Toru opened his eyes in shock, but eventually closed them again, returning the kiss. The two of them kept kissing for awhile, getting more passionate with it before eventually they ended up on the ground, Toru on top of Octola, both panting.

"S-should I," Toru started to say, but Octola placed a single finger on his lips.

"This time, I want you to do whatever you want to me," Octola whispered, once again kissing him, the passion returning between the two of them, before Octola rolled themselves into the complete darkness under the bridge, out of site from the pale moon herself.

XxXxXxX Two Months Later XxXxXxX

"As far as I can tell, there is definitely something going on inside your tentacle. A... mix of cells indicating life, from what I can see."

Toru and Octola both blinked, confusion filling their faces. After their encounter under the bridge, Octola found that her tentacle was acting strangely, as if it was developing a life of it's own. She also found that whenever she changed from her natural purple color into a different color, the purple in this particular tentacle seemed to remain. Currently, she was a red color, though the purple tentacle was sticking out all the same. Thinking that something was wrong, Toru took the Octoling to the only doctor he could trust with the knowledge that he was seeing an Octoling on the side. Doctor Patel wore a white coat with white pants, black shoes, and a mirror like device on a white headband. His dark green tentacles were lying flat a top his head, barely moving as he looked between Toru and Octola, letting the news sink in.

"Wait, I'm... pregnant in my tentacle?" Octola asked, her mouth gaped wide in shock.

"That's... wonderful!" Toru cheered suddenly, hugging her. "We're going to have a kid!"

"How?" Octola gasped, flabbergasted. "Octolings reproduce asexually, and Inklings reproduce sexually! How was this able to happen?"

"You explained to me that you lacked the means of reproduction because your tentacles would just shrivel up and die whenever you cut them off, correct?" Doctor Patel asked, getting a nod from Octola. "Well, my best guess as to what is going on is that your genetic code lacked the capability to clone yourself, which is essentially what asexual reproduction is, via your tentacle, and that whatever you did with Toru," both Toru and Octola blushed at this, though the doctor continued. "It caused some of his DNA to enter your tentacle, and what he did I don't want to know. Still, a strange mutation occurred just then, allowing Octola's tentacle to begin the reproduction process, just with your DNA mixed in. Defiantly a very strange occurrence, one that I've never seen happen before."

"A mixture of sexual and asexual birth," Toru muttered, thinking. "A miracle child."

"A miracle? Or just a disaster waiting to happen?" Octola cried out. "I can't have an Inkling's child! Now while I serve under Octavio!"

"That is the least of your concerns," Doctor Patel replied, and when the two of them looked at him with confusion, he cleared his throat. "I am sorry, I should clarify... a hybrid has never existed before, cause under normal conditions it is impossible. Who knows what could happen to the child."

"What do you mean?" Octola asked, fear filling her voice.

"Well," Doctor Patel mumbled, clearing his throat. "Back before the flooding of the ancient world, the dominant species at the time, known as 'Humans', recorded documentation of hybrid creatures. Animals like the Tiger and Lion could mate to make a Liger, or the Horse and the Donkey mating to make a Zonkey. However, often this hybrid wouldn't last, cause of an improper number of a structure found in living cells known as a chromosome. Horses had 64, while donkeys only had 62. Normally, when offspring are created, chromosomes from both mom and dad pair up and create the offspring's own… but when there is an improper number, they cannot pair up properly, sometimes creating heath defects. Most of the time, these animals died very early in their lives."

"So, our child," Toru started to say, looking pale.

"May very well end up being miscarried, or born… only to die."

"B-but those animals still existed!" Octola pointed out.

"Yes, they did." Doctor Patel said, clearing his throat. "But like I said before, that animal would often die. Not always, but often." He looked between the two of them. "There were also various other issues, like organ defects, height issues, infertility." Toru flinched at this, but Patel kept talking. "Considering that, and considering your situation, I want you to think carefully… do you want to keep this child?"

"You aren't suggesting that we cut off the tentacle before it is ready, thus killing the child, are you?" Toru muttered.

"You might be saving yourselves, and your child, from very tough lives," Doctor Patel stated. "But it is up to you. Should you go through with the 'pregnancy', I will do what I can to aid you and the child, but I can't promise anything… should she have the same defects as the hybrids of the human age did…"

"I want to keep my child," Toru stubbornly said. "I will raise my child with love, regardless of anything that comes our way."

"Think about this longer, Toru," Patel warned.

"My heart is telling me to go through with his," Toru started, placing his hand above his heart. "Even if I must raise my child in secret, alone, I will."

"I… I also vote to keep her," Octola stated.

"Her?" Toru asked.

"I can just tell," Octola said, smiling as she gently pet the odd colored tentacle. "That our child is a girl… our daughter."

Patel blinked, but shook his hand, smiling. "Very well… I cannot stop you if that is your choice."

XxXxXxX Seven Months Later XxXxXxX

It had been seven months since Toru and Octola found out she was pregnant with their child, and now Toru was pacing outside of the waiting room, anxious for him to be called in. For some reason, Octola demanded he would not be around for her birth, despite him wanting to be there for her. Although he honored her wishes, the silence that just screamed that something was wrong made him want to bust in to keep her company, but she would probably splat him if he did that.

"If you keep pacing like that, you are going to collapse before your even see her."

Toru turned, looking at the other Inkling in the waiting room with him. She had her two dark blue tentacles done in a mock braid, extending down her back, and she wore a white dress with white shoes. "I'm sorry, Taki, but I just… just want to see my daughter."

"And I would love to see my niece quicker as well, but you aren't helping by exhausting yourself," Taki explained, smiling fondly at her brother, and patting the chair next to her. "Sit down."

Toru sighed, walking over, and sitting down in the chair next to her. "You aren't worried that something might go wrong, are you?"

"I doubt something will go wrong," Taki said. "This is a strange case indeed, and all they're really doing is watching a severed tentacle grow into new life. She's fine."

Toru sighed, and deciding to distract himself, turned to her. "How is my nephew?"

"As rambunctious as ever," Taki laughed. "Those boy squids never seem to lose energy, hell I remember mom warning me when I was pregnant… 'Your bother was a never-ending ball of energy, and that child is going to end up the same way'! Guess she was right. He just goes, goes, goes."

"He'll make a mighty fine Turf Battler one day," Toru said, sighing.

"And I'm sure your daughter will as well," Taki replied.

The door suddenly opened and Toru shot up, looking as it swung forth to reveal Doctor Patel standing there. "Come. Your daughter awaits."

Toru rushed forward, with Taki following behind. He burst into the room, looking over to see an exhausted Octola, holding a blanket bundle in her arms. Taki and Toru walked forward, looking down to see a tiny shaped squid in the blanket, blinking at them with pinkish purple eyes, the body purple in color.

"As far as I can tell, she will look like a normal Inkling," Patel explained. "For the most part… I cannot guarantee she won't develop any Octoling like features as she matures. Like I told you two seven months ago, a hybrid between an Inkling and an Octoling has never existed before, so I have no idea what could happen in the future."

"Let's worry about that later," Octola weakly replied, smiling down at the baby. "I just want to celebrate this moment with my daughter."

"Have you thought of a name?" Taki asked.

"Yes," Octola answered, smiling at her. "Her name is Coral. Coral Reef."


	2. Growing Up

**THE HYPE FOR SPLATOON 2 IS REAL! In my hype I ended up typing the next chapter of this story. I was planning on this officially taking place directly after the effects of the first Splatoon game, but Splatoon 2 might change my ideas. We will see though, my current plans and defiantly this chapter won't be affected by Splatoon 2.**

 **Thanks to everyone who left reviews, but I feel like I must address some things right now: First, in response to Hinder's Might, where he requested for Octola to gain some weight... I dunno what that was about, but I won't be changing characters for odd reasons such as this one. Thanks for the suggestion, though, I guess...**

 **Second, in response to Punished 'Dread' Angel, who stated that the story summery was unoriginal and the story itself was boring, and that no one wants to read a story about an Inkling becoming the best Turf Battler. First of all, the summery of this story states that every Inkling has that dream, and that Coral has the same dream. That doesn't mean this story is ONLY about that alone. Sorry you found my writing boring though.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"How long are you going to be gone?"

It hadn't been that long since Coral's birth, only about two weeks or so since that day. Octola was standing outside of a makeshift wooden house, covered from head to toe in a brown cloak that covered her entirely. She had the hood of the cloak up, but not completely covering her face, so that Toru and Taki could see it. A sad smile crossed her face, as she pulled Toru into a hug.

"I am hoping not too long, but I can tell Octavio is growing more suspicious by the day," Octola replied grimly. "I need to at least stay long enough to throw him off course… and of course to tell him my 'Octoling' child 'died' in birth."

"Will he believe that?" Taki said, concern in her voice.

"He knows I was pregnant, that was impossible to hide," Octola replied, frowning. "It's the only lie that would work." She paused for a moment. "Can I… see her?"

Toru nodded, heading back into the house, and returning just a few minutes later with the baby purple squid. Coral had changed a lot in just two weeks, but not in the way Toru was hoping. Her eyes had taken a blood red color, the same as Octola's and unseen in Inklings. The markings on her face were also turning different, taking on the standard Octoling purple with a triangle pointing down to her cheek on each eye. In the center the standard Inkling racoon marking could be barely seen, but as far as they could see it was purple as well. Octola took Coral into her arms, and hugged her close.

"Life might not be easy for you, Coral," Octola whispered, cradling the squid which cooed back at her. "I'm so sorry… if I don't make it back…"

"You will make it back," Taki replied, catching Octola's attention. "And besides, if Coral got anything from your side, I bet it's that Octoling tough-as-nails personality."

Octola gave a little chuckle at that. "Well, I hope she didn't get my aggressiveness either." She then handed Coral to Taki, and gave Toru a kiss. "Take care of our daughter…"

"I will," Toru whispered to her. "And you take care of yourself."

Octola nodded, pulling the hood more forward so she was covered entirely, and she raced off into the world before them, disappearing quickly into the forest before them. Toru and Taki entered the house, each lost in their own thought, and each one worried about just how Octavio would take the lie. It was a very shaky lie, one that was almost impossible to believe, but it was the only one they had, and as long as Octola acted accordingly, the lie would be bought. Unaware to them, however, two additional figures were outside, peering through the tree line at the house before them, each one wearing a black outfit with silver armor stepped to it.

"The parcel has left the house," the first Octoling said into the radio he was holding. "May we give chase?"

"No," a firm voice in the radio replied. "The parcel will return to me, and punishment will be issued. Standby till 2300 hours. Your objective will be to eliminate the child. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," The second Octoling replied. "Over and out."

XxXxXxX

11 pm arrived, and unaware to Toru and Taki, the two Octolings had commenced their operation. They zipped forward from the tree line, dashing until they both were at the front of the house. They then began creeping their way along the wall to the front door, inching slowly and ducking low. However, unaware to one of them, her hair happened to be visible through the window of the house. They reached the front door, and with a gesture, they both jumped in front of it and knocked it in.

But they hadn't taken three steps into the house before a blast missed them by inches.

Taki leapt from the other room, shooting at the Octolings with a Splattershot Jr. Her assault was relentless, and the Octolings were forced to dive behind a plant for cover, before leaping toward the couch and ducking behind it.

"Shit, one of them was up," one of the Octoling muttered, pulling out her Octoshot.

But the mayhem had brought Toru out of his room, holding his roller and swinging it directly at the spot where Taki was shooting. The ink sailed through the air and drenched behind the couch, both Octolings hissing in pain as the Inkling ink stung them. They growled, peeking out from their cover and firing at the Inklings, who dodged in turn.

"Octolings, here?" Toru hissed.

"Should've picked a better location to live, Inkling," one of the Octolings taunted. "Your little forest home isn't that far from Octo Valley after all." The battle continued, with both Octolings ducking behind the couch once again as Taki fired without mercy at them. Toru growled in anger, knowing that if they were here, things probably weren't going to be well on Octola's end either. Was she even alive?

"Surrender, Octolings!" Toru declared. "We have you outmatched!"

Both of them suddenly smirked, a power flowing through their bodies. "Is that so?"

Using the trail they had created, the two Octolings zipped from behind the couch, to the front door. When they both emerged, two Inkzookas were in their hands. Eyes widening, Toru and Taki immediately took off, racing towards a room in their house where what sounded like two crying babies could be heard.

"THESE AREN'T NORMAL INKZOOKAS, INKLING! DIE!" they screamed, leaping back out of the door and firing. Dark purple tornado's of ink raced through the house, tearing everything in their path apart. Wooden panels were ripped apart as the Octolings kept flying back, due to the recoil of the Inkzooka. Eventually the Inkzooka's were out of time, but the job was done. The house at this point resembled nothing more than a pile of wood, nothing but splinters and random pieces of wood all piled on top of each other in a mess, coated in blotches of poison-purple colored ink.

"The package is dead," one of the Octolings said into the radio.

"Good," the voice from before replied. "Now get out of there, before you are caught.

"Yes, sir," the Octoling replied, and with a flick of a lighter for good measure, the two Octolings raised off into the forest as the pile of wood caught fire and burned behind them. Unknown to them, however, on the other side of the forest two figures were watching them race off, holding a blanket bundle each. Inside the blankets housed two baby squids, both of them crying but not making any sound. Even at their age, they had the instant to know if they cried, they would die.

"I ought to," Toru hissed, but was held back by Taki's free hand.

"No!" she hissed, pulling him back. "You know what'll happen if you go out there! Besides, you got a daughter and a nephew to look after, bro!"

Toru looked at Coral, who was sniffling in her blanket, seeking comfort by pressing herself against her father. In Taki's arms, a dark blue baby squid was doing the same, looking at his mother with his deep green eyes.

"There there, Kai," Taki whispered, gently rocking the baby. "Mommy is here."

"You timed that bubbler well," Toru said, looking over at the trail of Octoling ink. "Though I didn't imagine we'd be knocked back into the forest from it."

"Bubble knockbacks suck," Taki signed. "But in this instance it may have saved our lives… now the question is… where do we go? I thought dad's old cabin would be perfect for us to live in, since it was so close to Octo Valley and all… but I never imagined Octolings would follow Octola… I'm such an idiot."

"Dad's cabin was meant for his time in the Squidbeak Splatoon, so it wasn't really meant for hiding a half Inkling, half Octoling child in peace," Toru replied, but then his eyes lit up. "The Squidbeak Splatoon…"

"Pardon?" Taki asked.

"We'll head to Teal Bay," Toru said to Taki. "An old solider I worked with in the Squidbeak Splatoon has a brother there who is mayor of the city. We will go there and be safe."

"But that's an hour away!" Taki groaned. "Yes, we went there to deliver Coral, but still…"

"But don't you see?" Toru asked. "That's why it is perfect there. Doctor Patel is already there, and…" Toru grinned. "I already had a pre-arranged way to get there instantly."

Taki raised an eyebrow. "Are you drunk?"

"No," Toru replied, glaring at her. He then pulled out his squid phone, and zoomed out on the map. Taki could see a faint, signal of a Squid Beacon "Squidbeak Splatoon special Squid Beacon. Normally, Squid Beacons don't work outside of standard maps, but the Squidbeak Splatoon developed this kind that works anywhere. I'm just thankful that Captain Cuddlefish let me have one in case of an emergency with Coral."

"Well… all right," Taki groaned. "But I don't like jumping as is… I can't imagine jumping to a location that far away."

Toru grabbed onto Taki's hand and sighed. "Then hold on tight."

They suddenly transformed into their squid forms, clenching the squid babies tightly with their free tentacles. They then took off in a trail of ink, sailing into the air and rapidly flying across the night sky. Toru looked focused, while Taki looked terrified. Both Coral and Kai's eyes were wide, trying to process what exactly was going on, each one wrapped firmly in the tentacles of their respective parent. Eventually, they were falling towards a brick building, and they transformed back into their humanoid forms, holding the babies to their chests and landing perfectly on a beacon, which broke underneath them. Taki was shaking, holding Kai close, her dislike clear as day. Coral was blinking, attempting to process just what happened. Kai, meanwhile, was making a faint noise that sounded like he had enjoyed his experience.

Suddenly, the door on the roof burst open, and Doctor Patel was racing forward, his eyes wide in panic as he looked at them. "What is wrong? Is she showing horrible symptoms? Is she… she's just fine…" Patel blinked, looking at Toru sternly. "What is going on? I told you to use that beacon only in an emergency!"

"We were attacked, so I believe that counts as an emergency," Toru sarcastically replied, as Patel gestured him to follow him into the building. "Octola left earlier this afternoon to go back to Octo Valley and lie to Octavio, but they had Octoling spies… we were attacked just ten minutes ago, as only managed to escape with our weapons and lives… The house, all our possessions, everything was destroyed by two special Inkzookas… they were designed to kill, not splat."

"I see," Patel said, as they stepped into the building. "And just how did you escape that kind of weapon?"

"Bubbler," Taki replied, holding her Splattershot Jr. "Lucky for us those weapons still were absorbed by my bubbler. We were flung back far into the forest, but managed to get out of the way before the bubblers wore off. They think we didn't survive though."

"That aside, we need to speak to Mayor Bay," Toru demanded, turning to Patel. "We cannot return there and need somewhere to stay… can you wire us though to him?"

Patel chucked, stepping out of the elevator. "First you two need to worry about getting some sleep. My house isn't that far so you can stay there the night, and worry tomorrow about seeing Mayor Bay."

Toru sighed. "Thank you, Patel. We owe you way too much already."

"Think nothing of it," Patel replied, heading to the front door. "Though if your lives continue to be this interesting, you might be the death of me…"

XxXxXxX Six Years Later XxXxXxX

"TAKE IT BACK! TAKE IT BACK RIGHT NOW!"

The arm of the six-year-old Coral flew, striking the pink Inkling she had pinned to the ground, who spat up a bit of ink-like blood at the blow. Three inkling teachers at Teal Bay School rushed forward, pulling the purple hybrid off the boy she was hitting. Coral was hissing at the pink boy, trying to hit him again, but she was already being carried away by one of the teachers. The Pink Inkling got up slowly, wiping dirt from his face and rubbing a bruise on his eye that Coral had left. "Freak," he muttered silently to himself, turning around to play with the other squids.

Coral eventually stopped squirming, her shoulder length tentacle hair no longer flying everywhere. She signed, once again having lost her temper. But she couldn't help it when she was called a freak. It's always been like that. She was different from the other Inklings and she knew it. No other Inkling she knew had purple markings on their eyes, or eyes red like hers.

"You know better, Coral Reef," a teacher sternly reprimanded. "We're going to have to tell your dad about this, you know."

"I know, I know," Coral muttered, glaring. "Don't got to remind me every time this happens…" Coral spent the rest of after-school recess waiting inside of the school, but thankfully she didn't have to wait long. Her dad eventually came into the room, looking a bit grim and stern himself, followed by Kai, who he must have grabbed outside. Kai walked over to Coral, his dark blue hair slicked back over his head in three tentacles.

"You got your anger under control, cuz?" Kai asked.

"Bite me," Coral hissed in reply, anger still boiling inside of her.

"This has to stop, Mr. Reef," the teacher stated. "This is the third fight she's been into this month, and her methods of dealing with the situation aren't helping at all."

"Have the parents of the children been informed about this?" Toru asked, a stern look etched on his face. "Because I don't think any child should call another a 'freak' and just get away with it cause the other child did something worse."

"We have informed the parents of the other children, as well as given no bullying lectures," the teacher replied. "But this isn't about those parents or the other kids… this is about you, and YOUR child. Coral has… anger issues to say the least. She needs to learn to deal with those that call her names, without getting violent. That only makes things worse, after all."

"I will do what I can," Toru replied, sighing. "Let's go. Kai. Coral." Both children followed after Toru as he walked them out of the building and to his car. They got in, and silence filled the air as they drove back to the apartment. Coral wanted to say something to her father, but didn't quite know what to say. Kai remained quiet as well, knowing that anything he probably would say would make the situation worse than it already was. They eventually got back to the apartment they called home, where Taki was nowhere to be found.

"Must still be at work," Toru sighed, turning to Kai. "Kai, please go to your room."

"Good luck," Kai whispered to Coral, quickly hurrying away.

"Coral," Toru sighed, looking at his daughter. "What happened today?"

"The kids at school kept picking on me," Coral muttered. "I tried to control my temper, I really did, dad…" She sighed, sitting down on the couch. "They called me freak, shrimp, weakling."

Toru frowned. "So, if you could deal with all those names, what lead you to hit them?"

"They said… they said my mom probably doesn't love me, and that's why she's gone," Coral replied. Toru's eyes widened. Shock filling his body as she walked over to the couch and sat down, staring directly at the vase in the middle of the coffee table in front of them. He couldn't form the words he had to say right now. Silence filled the room for some time before Coral finally let out a whimper, turning to her father. "Dad? Because I am half-Octoling, does that make me a freak?"

"No, hun, it doesn't," Toru replied, hands shaking a little. "I've always told you that you are a precious gift to the world, and that remains true to this day."

"But if that is true, then why must I hide my identity from the world?" Coral asked.

"Because, Inklings and Octolings don't get along," Toru replied. "Not all of them, of course, your mother and I got along just fine… but we fought over turf years ago, and neither side has gotten along since then."

"That's dumb," Coral huffed, crossing her arms. "Guess their parents never taught them how to share…"

Toru had to laugh at that. Coral maybe mature enough to know the truth about what she was, but she still was a child at heart. "Yes, Coral, their parents didn't teach them good manners… now come on, let's get your homework done."

XxXxXxX Eight Years Later XxXxXxX

"T-This is all for me?"

It was Coral's fourteenth birthday, and the kitchen was filled with balloons, two presents, and a large cake. Kai, Taki and Toru were standing around the circuilar table, beaming at the humanoid girl. Coral had finally learned to control her transformations enough to assume a full humanoid form. She had pale skin, and wore a white shirt and a long sleeved grey undershirt, red high top shoes, and black rimmed glasses that drew attention away from her purple markings. Her reddish eyes peered through them at the decorated kitchen around her.

"All yours," Toru said, beaming at her. "I haven't gotten a good look at you with my work schedule… you look so much like your mother."

Coral smiled, walking forward to the table. Kai pushed forward a present in her direction, his tan hands gently nudging the box and ruffling the red hoodie he wore. "Open this one first cuz!"

Coral sighed, but laughed as she opened the present from her Aunt Taki and her cousin Kai, and she was stunned to find the box contained the brand-new model of Squid Phone. "It's… it's lovely, thank you!"

"Hey only fair, I got one for my fourteenth along with my Luna Blaster!" Kai stated.

"And this is from me," Toru said, pulling over a large box. Coral opened it immediately, and her mouth opened wide at the red roller inside of it. "Your very own roller. You said you like using mine a lot, and that you'd probably get a roller when we got to Inkopolis in a week, but I figured I would save you the trouble.

"Th-thank you, dad!" Coral grinned, hugging him tightly.

"Anytime, Coral," Toru chucked, hugging her back. "Now let's put these things aside and eat some cake, then maybe we can talk about how to win over a boyfriend for you."

"Dad, I'm not going to get a boyfriend!" Coral retorted.

"Why not?"

"Because I am not interested in dating."

"Every girl dreams of romance."

"Well not this one!"

"But grand squids would make this family perfect!"

Taki and Kai laughed as they began to cut the cake while listening to the bickering that was going on in the kitchen. Life wasn't easy for them in their weird little family, but it certainly was eventful, and soon they were heading to Inkopolis to start a brand new journey.


	3. Forming a Team

**So I think I decided that this story is officially taking place during the time gap between the events of Splatoon and the events of Splatoon 2, depending on the content of the game it might overlap into the events of Splatoon 2. This chapter takes place shortly after the events of the first game, more specifically after the final Splat Fest.**

 **Thanks to XT3100 and a guest for reviewing the second chapter. Yes, Coral still somewhat has hybrid issues carried over from the old story, but not as obvious. One of them will be covered in this chapter, actually.**

* * *

Coral let the fresh breeze of Saltspray Rig fill her lungs as she rose out of the blue ink that was in her teams spawn point. She was ahead of her teammates, and didn't even bother to look behind her at the other members of her team. She found the random teams of Turf War were sometimes packed with either new players who didn't do much, like the N-Zap she was paired with just a few days ago, or were so wrapped up in themselves that they didn't play nice with others. Only on a few occasions since the month she moved to Inkopolis had she found herself on a team that was willing to work together, but it was so rare that she didn't even bother attempting to try anymore.

As far as she was concerned, she was alone.

A shot pierced the air and Coral took off as fast as she could, her Red Hi-Tops hitting the ground with great force as her Zink Layered LS ruffled in the wind. Her red eyes focused through her Retro Specs straight ahead of her, her roller leaving a trail as it went across the ground. Coral jumped down from the platform she started from and was in the small area at the south end of the map, where she began flicking her ink around the area, filling the entire rectangle box with blue. Two other Inklings came down and attempted to stop her, but they were quickly splatted by Coral, who had already mastered dodging the various weapons the Inklings wielded against her.

Though she did struggle a bit when it came to chargers.

A shot rang through the air and Coral felt herself vaporize instantly. Her eyes blinked as she turned to look at who got her. An Inkling from the orange team was standing on the top close to where their spawn was, a Custom E-Liter 3K Scope in her hands. Her long, standard Inkling girl hair blew a bit in the wind, threatening to send the Squid Hairclip flying off her hair into the wind. She also wore a pink Retro Sweat and Hunter Hi-Tops, which were covered in blue ink from previous attempts to splat her.

"Alright, you snipper," Coral muttered, respawning faster than normal thanks to her glasses having the Quick Respawn ability. "Time for some payback!"

Coral ducked into the ink already created by her team, zipping through it and getting to another part of the map that was covered in orange ink. She began covering it as fast as she could, building up her special ability until it was max, her short hair flaring up as her body coursed with power. Coral then ran forward until she got to the elevator area of the map, quickly pulling out the Inkzooka out of nowhere and firing it directly at the charger. The charger, however, seemed to notice this, and ducked back into the ink, her ripples indicating that she had successfully dodged the tornado of blue ink successfully. Coral shot a few more times, attempting to get her, but it was in vein as the charge was too good of her. Once the assault had ended, the charger popped out of the ink, and with a quick charge and following Coral's attempt to run off, splatted her once again.

Coral cursed, saying a word that was inappropriate for young woomies to hear. For the rest of the match, Coral kept attempting to splat the charger, but it was in vein. Five more splats later, the match ended, with Coral having a 5 to 7 Splat to Splatted ratio. Sighing, Coral declined the chance to participate in another match, and stormed away from the match plaza, heading to the ice cream shop, slowly turning back to her natural purple color as she walked.

"Yo," Kai waved, gesturing Coral over. "You look angry, something go down or are you just salty?"

"I hate chargers," Coral hissed, sitting down with her arms crossed so tightly they looked like they were glued together.

"Salty it is then," Kai stated, licking his ice cream cone. "You know with a roller you aren't going to win against them, right? Unless you get REALLY good."

"Cut me some slack," Coral muttered, glaring at her cousin. "I'm trying to get better."

"And you're doing a good job cuz, but you need to learn there are some battles you can't win," Kai replied, licking his ice cream cone again. "You still gotta learn to be sneaky. Shouldn't be that hard for you since you're so small."

Coral glared at him, hissing in a low voice so only he could hear. "You know damn well my stunted growth is sensitive to me! I can't help that!"

"Yeah, yeah, hybrid genetic problems," Kai muttered, rolling his eyes.

Coral ignored her cousin. "Plus, I would be able to improve faster if my team pulled their own weight. Most of the time I am playing Turf War, I end up with idiots who dunno how to splat. I told you about that one N-Zap I ended up with who I swear inked so slow I swear the N-Zap was clogging, right?"

"Yeah, you did," Kai replied, thinking for a moment before an idea came to him. "Why not build a team then?"

"What do you mean?" Coral asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, most of the time randoms end up being randoms because squid teams don't want them," Kai explained, taking another lick of his treat. "Either they suck, are too new, or various other things that cause them to end up not being on a team. But most of the good squids end up assembling Turf War teams early on so they always got good team members they can plan with, and hell they even end up being the ones to get high up in the ranking system. Some go at it alone, of course, but you'll find most of the A and S players are on teams."

"That charger girl sure seemed good," Coral muttered, thinking out loud. "Wonder if she is on a team and just wanted to kill some scrubs in randoms."

"What does she look like?" Kai asked. Coral explained the girl in detail, and Kai pulled out his phone, accessing the team database. "Hmmm, I don't see her in here. I could have sworn she'd be on a team like Ink Jam or Toxic Splash, they're full of S ranked players."

"Well, either way, she was good," Coral sighed in an aggravated tone.

"So, make a team with her and some other friends of yours," Kai suggested.

"Friends?" Coral asked, staring blankly at her cousin.

Kai blinked a few times before he let out a long sigh. "You're not serious. Please tell me you aren't serious… Coral, you have to have made at least ONE friend by now!"

"No, I haven't made any friends," Coral snapped, glaring at him and pointing to her eyes. "No one wants to be friends with me because of THIS! Plus, I don't need friends, so…"

Coral was suddenly interrupted by the sound of something dropping. She and Kai both turned to see a light blue inkling with long hair standing there, her mouth gaped in a big O. The dropped ice cream was right on top of her Hunter Hi-Tops, and some of it lined down the front of her pink Retro Sweat. Her hair blew a bit as a silent, awkward breeze blue by, the white squid hairclip in her hair bouncing.

"You… you don't have friends?" She asked, appalled.

"…No?" Coral replied, a little weirded out.

"That's just not right!" The light blue inkling yelled, drawing some attention. "Everyone must have at least one friend! Friends are the best thing in the whole, wide world! They help you when you are sad by giving you hugs, can battle along side you and have lots of fun, and…"

"Who is this girl?" Kai asked, no longer listening to the rant about friends.

"I dunno," Coral said, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "But she looks familiar… hey, squid. Who are you?"

"Oh, my name is Orabelle Bay," The light blue inkling sheepishly.

"Orabelle," Coral said, then suddenly she remembered seeing the same name on the score board of the last match she was in. "So that sniper that splatted me seven times in a row was you."

"O-oh, you're mad?" Orabelle asked, stepping back a bit under Coral's glare. "Sorry. Guess daddy was right when he told me players often get salty with chargers."

"Yes, he was right," Coral sighed.

"Hold on, you said your last name was Bay?" Kai asked. When Orabelle nodded, he continued. "Would you happen to be related to General Bay or Mayor Bay?"

"General Bay is my dad," Orabelle replied. "And Mayor Bay is my uncle."

"Ha!" Kai grinned. "You should be thanking this young lady, Coral. Her uncle was mayor of the town we grew up in!" Coral muttered something that sounded like 'Thanks', but simply turned away. Kai sweat dropped, looking at the pouting Orabelle. "Forgive her. She got her mother's temper from what we've been told."

"Oh, you never knew your mother?" Orabelle asked. Coral looked out of the corner of her eye at her, as Orabelle sat down at the free seat. "I'm sorry… must've been hard for you."

Coral turned to her, her anger slowly evaporating. "It's fine… I had my Aunt Tati to take care of me… sorry I got salty." At that, Orabelle grinned a little too wide, and hugged Coral tightly. The hybrid squirmed, pushing her off. "That doesn't mean I accept hugs… or want to be friends!"

Kai sighed. "Look, why not accept her as a friend? She clearly is nice, and besides you've shown interest in forming a team of Inkling, right? You're not on a team, are you Orabelle?"

"No, but I know someone who is forming one," Orabelle answered, grinning. "He actually wants me to search for potentials to make one, and I thought that Coral had potential… hey, you aren't on a team either, are you?"

"Uh… no actually, haven't had time to form one," Kai admitted, blushing a little.

"And you got onto my butt about not being on a team," Coral muttered under her breath.

"So why not join us?" Orabelle suggested. "Both of you! That way we got a full team right off the bat!"

"Now, hold on I didn't-" Coral was about to say, but Kai quickly covered her mouth.

"We accept your offer!" He cheered, bending down and hissing into Coral's ear. "Come on, don't be an anti-social twerp like you usually are. You want better teammates, right? Well, here you are!"

"Fine," Coral growled. "But I better not have to participate in friendship rituals or anything strange like that…"

Orabelle grabbed both of their hands and began leading the way towards the main area of the plaza. Coral quickly let go, uncomfortable with how friendly this random Inkling could be towards her. Wasn't she weirded out by her eyes at all, like every other Inkling in this city was? Even as she followed Orabelle towards wherever they were going, inklings were looking at her strangely.

"Here we are!" Orabelle said, having lead them to a park bench right next to the rap leading up to the second floor of shops. "I texted him saying I found two potential recruits, so he should be… ah, there he is. HEY MAKO!" Coral looked over to see a dark green inkling heading over, wearing a Backwards Cap with a red Layered Anchor LS and Squid-Stitch Slip-Ons. He was also spinning a Tri-Slosher bucket in his finger as he walked, whistling with what Coral felt was overconfidence. "This is Mako Jaws," Orabelle introduced. "Mako, these two are Coral Reef and Kai Wave. They are the two potentials I told you about."

"Are they now?" Mako said, glancing over each of them in turn. What's your rank?"

"Rank?" Coral asked.

"We haven't done Rank Battles yet," Kai sheepishly stated, sweat dropping.

"So, C minus then," Mako sighed. "Then sorry, but I decline."

"Aww come on, Mako," Orabelle whined. "Coral is good! I fought her today and she nearly turned me into sushi a few times."

"I doubt that, you're too good with a sniper," Mako instantly said. "This little shrimp looks like she can barely hold a Splattershot Jr, let alone that Carbon Roller she's carrying."

Coral tightened her grip on her roller. "Is that a challenge?"

"No, it's the truth," Mako smirked. Coral and Mako locked eyes, Mako continuing to look smug as he grinned, while Coral practically glared daggers at him.

"You, me, one on one," Coral hissed. "I'll show you how wrong you are, and how good I am."

"Very well, and if I lose, I will add you and your cousin to our team," Mako announced. "Though I am not going to lose to a C minus player like yourself."

"Well, that was unexpected," Kai muttered. "Not Coral getting salty about getting called short, I expected that… but Coral just jumping on this whole team thing if she wins."

"I think she's too wrapped up in proving Mako wrong," Orabelle said, smiling sheepishly. "Mako is my friend, but personally I am hoping Coral wins."

"Why's that?" Kai asked her confused.

"So you two can join us and we can be the best of friends and…"

"Should've known it would dabble into a friendship speech," Kai muttered, not listening as he watched Coral and Mako make a private battle.

"Judd can only do so much," The Inkling taking battle requests announced. "We're thinking of actually cloning him… but regardless if you want to do a private battle you will be unsupervised in a map outside of the rotation… just adhere to the rules."

"That's fine," Coral stated. "We're not even going to complete the objective, just see who can splat the other more within the time limit."

"Bring it on, short stuff," Mako grinned, earning himself another glare from Coral.

Both stepped into the tubes leading to where they would spawn. Kai and Orabelle both entered a different tube to get into the grand stands of the map they would be dueling on. Once they got into their seats, they noticed the map chosen for them to duel on was Walleye Warehouse set to Rainmaker.

"Not a bad choice," Kai stated. "Walleye is a small map with a clear center for them to fight in."

"Knowing Mako though, he isn't just going to head straight for the center," Orabelle muttered.

"What do you mean?" Kai asked. But just before Orabelle could answer, a shot rang out. Coral dashed from the purple spawn point, racing directly to the center of the map. Meanwhile, Kai looked over and notice that although Mako moved from the green spawn, and was inking turf with his bucket, he was taking a much different path then Coral, opting to take the side path that would drop him down off to the side of the center.

"Shit," Kai muttered. "So that is what you meant. And we can't just let Coral know he is going to try and ambush her."

Coral had already gotten most of the center, but by the time she realized the Mako was nowhere in the center, it was too late. Mako seemed to leap out of nowhere, bringing his bucket back and thrusting it forward, splashing her with a wave of green ink and splatting her instantly. Coral growled as she respawned quickly thanks to her glasses' ability, and took off once again, this time being careful. By the time Mako had realized she was taking a side route, she jumped from the second floor of the map, landing on his head to splat him.

"Tied up," Orabelle muttered. "But we still got a long way to go. Mako is smart, he'll adapt his tactics to whatever Coral is going. She needs to play tricky if she wants to win."

"That's the issue," Kai whispered to her. "Coral's temper is her downside. If he gets her angry enough, she will mess up."

"Yeah, I noticed that myself," Orabelle admitted, remembering their match earlier that day.

"That all you got, bucket brain?" Coral shouted, but before she could move, a bucket was slammed down on her head, splatting her instantly.

"Nope, still got plenty left over," Mako taunted, adjusting his hat. "You aren't the only one with quick respawn, shrimp."

"Oh, I'll get you!" Coral growled, but her anger was getting the best of her. By the time the clock signaled two minutes left in the match, Coral had 3 splats, and had been splatted 6 times. To win, she would have to splat Mako four times without getting hit once.

"Coral, calm the hell down!" Kai yelled, beside himself. "Remember what dad said!"

"Dad," Coral hissed, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. Kai was right, she needed to calm down.

" _Coral, when you get angry at someone, instead of lashing out and getting angry with them… prove them wrong. That guy who called you freak the other day? Don't just punch him in the face, beat him at his own game."_

Coral opened her eyes and looked up at the clock. "A minute and 45 seconds to get four splats? Childs play."

Coral dove into the ink and swam directly to the center. From the ripples in the ink, Coral could see Mako was moving off to the side, but she was one step ahead of him. By the time he had realized she was coming up, Coral leapt from the ink and slammed her roller into him, splatting him. Coral dove back into the ink, swimming across the map as she began inking more turf to build her special, keeping aware of her surroundings. Mako was heading back to her, bucket at the ready.

"Not bad, shorty, but let's see you dodge this!" Mako threw a disrupter, but Coral dodged it, throwing a burst bomb at him and, while he was distracted, charged right at him with her roller. The double assault of burst bomb and roller hit was enough to earn another splat for Coral, as well as give her enough energy to activate her special.

"You are good, huh?" Mako grinned, before diving back into the ink. "Maybe I was wrong about your skill, but you still aren't going to beat me!"

"Guess again, fish breath," Coral grinned. Mako stumbled, stunned at the insult, and Coral took the chance to strike. She pulled out her Inkzooka, aiming at the spot she saw Mako temporarily emerge and fired, nailing him dead on.

"Now it's 6 to 6," Kai whispered.

"And with 30 seconds left, the next splat will decide it," Orabelle stated.

"Fish breath, eh?" Mako blinked, but then grinned. "Rather have bad breath then be short."

"I'd rather be short than smell like you!" Coral shouted, charging at him. The two raced at each other, weapons ready to fire. As Coral ran forward, however, Mako smirked.

 _Got her._

"It's over!" Coral shouted, throwing a burst bomb as Mako splashed ink from his bucket, but to his surprise, the burst bomb wasn't thrown at him, it was thrown to his left. Coral dove into the ink she created to avoid the bucket ink, then slammed her roller down, splatting him just as time ran out.

"She won!" Kai cheered.

"All right, Coral!" Orabelle yelled.

Coral sighed, smiling. She then turned to Mako, who was approaching her from his spawn. "Hey… uh, you don't actually have bad breath… I just wanted to get back at you for the short comments."

"No harm done," Mako grinned. "Guess you two are officially welcome to the team."

"That means we got all the members we need!" Orabelle cheered, running forward and hugging Coral. Coral looked uncomfortable at first, but hugged Orabelle back with a defeated sigh.

"Right, so tomorrow we'll start practice," Mako announced. "Just remember to bring that same A-game to practice Coral, and try not to get lost in a crowd on the way to the meeting spot."

"Was that another short joke?" Coral hissed.

"Maybe," Mako grinned.

"H-hey I thought you'd cut that out after I beat you!"

"Can't change the truth."

"W-well you got bad breath!"

"You already admitted that was a lie."

Kai sweat dropped, watching them argue in the middle of the warehouse. "This is going to be a weird team…"

Orabelle also sweat dropped, but smiled all the same. "Yeah, it will be, but I wouldn't have it any other way!"


	4. Secrets

**Before I begin Chapter 4, I want to address a review left by a guest named 'Martyn', who has told me to "Continue Torik's Tail". Not sure why this is on my story, since that was a story written by my good friend The King of Emerald, but I might as well address one thing while I got the chance: Demanding that an author continues with a story is rude. We authors have personal lives, and those lives can become busy, leaving no room for writing, hell it's not like writing fanfiction is a job of ours. Often times we also have what is known as "Writer's Block", where we can't just think of how to continue or write a story. On top of that, sometimes we don't feel like continuing a story anymore, hell I have deleted more stories off this account then I can remember. I just ask you all to have a little understanding, and maybe even try this yourself. You'll see how hard it can get.**

 **That being said, enjoy Chapter 4!**

* * *

A loud yawn escaped from Coral's mouth as she set up in bed, the dark blue sheets falling off her black pajamas with a logo on it reading 'Night-Squid'. She slowly got out of bed, dragging her feet across the floor, her eyes only half open.

"Good morning, cuz," Kai cheerfully said as she entered the kitchen, scratching under her arm. "How un-lady like, but expected of you to grace us with your display."

"Bite me," Coral hissed in her signature phrase, as she reached over for the box of cereal and a fresh bowl complete with a spoon.

"You better eat and get dressed quickly," Kai stated, already halfway done with his own bowl. "Mako wants us to meet outside the battle lobby in about 30 minutes."

"For what?" Coral yawned, shoving food into her mouth after.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Kai asked. He was met with a blank, tired look from the half-Inkling, and sighed. "Coral, we're on a team, remember? You beat Mako yesterday securing us a place on his team."

"Oh yeah," Coral reminisced, waking up a little and chuckling. "Heh, he didn't stand a chance."

"Actually, you were down 4 splats until the last 2 minutes, but whatever," Kai reminded her. She glared at him, but the blue Inkling ignored this. "Mom and Uncle Toru have already left for work, so we need to lock up once we go."

"Yeah, yeah," Coral muttered, shoving more cereal into her mouth. "Don't need to be so bossy. I'm a big girl and know what to do."

The rest of their meal was eaten in silence, before they changed into their normal gear and headed out, weapons in hand. Coral was still half dragging herself to the meeting area, but with a thermos of brewed Sea Tea in her hand, she was slowly regaining her senses as they walked, and once they reached the battle lobby entrance, Coral was awake enough to function.

"Alright, since we are all here now," Mako stated. "First, we need a mascot, and I vote we stuff Coral into a School Uniform and have her be the mascot. Kai's already agreed with me."

"Oh, hell no!" Coral shouted, then she suddenly realized Kai had brought something else with him, and upon looking into the backpack saw a brand-new School Uniform with matching shoes in the bag. "You're an asshole! I am not putting a school uniform on!"

"It's either that, or we can just use one of your adorable baby pictures," Kai grinned, reaching into the bag and beginning to pull out what looked strangely like a booklet.

Coral instantly slapped his hand, glaring. "I. Hate. You."

"School Girl Coral is our mascot then," Mako said, taking out a notepad and writing some notes.

"Why do we need a mascot in the first place!?" Coral shouted, before suddenly realizing the fourth patron in this group had yet to chime in. "And why haven't you said anything!?"

"I… um… I think the school girl idea is cute," Orabelle muttered, blushing. "N-no offense…"

Coral sighed, defeated. "I want off the team."

"Too late for that, I completed registration yesterday," Mako stated. "Since we are registering just in time, we are cleared to enter the Squid Leagues this year if we want to… the issue is, we'd need a name to officially compete, and that is something I wanted to discuss with you before officially summiting it. I was thinking of going with Bucket Brigade."

"But you're the only bucket," Kai pointed out. "I think we should be the Blaster Patrol."

"Yeah, so the only blaster gets the spotlight instead?" Mako glared. "I'm leading this team, so if anything, we should name it after me!"

"I think we should call ourselves the Friendship Crew!" Orabelle cheered. "We can promote friendship, kindness, and…" Orabelle trailed off, realizing that Mako and Kai were both looking at her with looks of dread. "…never mind…"

"So, with one squid awful suggestion, and Kai's lame one, I still promote the idea of calling ourselves the Bucket Brigade!" Mako demanded.

"And I still think we should call ourselves Blaster Patrol!" Kai retorted, glaring.

"Bucket Brigade!"

"Blaster Patrol!"

"Bucket Brigade!"

"Blaster Patrol!"

"Stop!" Orabelle shouted. "Friends should not fight! We can settle this without nasty arguments!"

Mako and Kai huffed, crossing their arms. Coral, meanwhile, had gone silent, thinking to herself for a while before thinking up an idea. "How about Purple Rain?"

All three of the Inklings turned to her, each with different expressions. Orabelle looked pleased with the idea, grinning widely, and looking at Coral with glee. Kai raised an eyebrow, tilting his head as if wondering where that came from. Mako, meanwhile, glared a little. "Coral, none of us besides you are purple."

"Didn't stop you from saying the bucket idea, Mr. Only Bucket User on the Team," Coral pointed out. "And we change colors anyway. It's the best idea I could come up with that wasn't taken by another team, as Ink Rain was used a few years ago, and I don't wanna look like a rip off. Any other suggestions?"

"I love the name!" Orabelle cheered. "I'm with Coral's idea!"

"Honestly, I like Coral's idea better than mine," Kai stated. "It sounds cool."

Mako sighed. "I'm indifferent about it, and still like my idea better… but since we don't have anything better, Purple Rain it is."

"Sweet," Coral smiled as he wrote the name on his notepad.

"But now it's time for the mascot pictures," Mako grinned, looking right at Coral, who paled a little as his eyes seemed to pierce through her.

"Oh, f-"

XxXxXxX

"This… is humiliating," Coral muttered, blushing heavily and tugging the skirt downward. She was now wearing the school uniform, which was complete with a white undershirt, purple tie, tan vest layer and a dark navy jacket top. A purple skirt completed the outfit, with dark navy shoes with long black socks. Coral still wore her glasses, the only part of her original outfit she kept on. "Why do I have to do this?"

Coral looked across the room, now occupying Orabelle's apartment with her team. Kai was sitting on the couch, looking slightly amused at Coral's embarrassment, while Orabelle was sitting on the arm rest, eyeing the door in case her dad came home. Mako, however, was standing directly in front of Coral, grinning a little too wide.

"All teams have a logo, and since none of us are creative enough, this was a good option," Kai shrugged.

"How hard is it to draw a rain cloud with purple rain coming from it?" Coral growled. "I only suggested it ten times on the way here!"

"Just be a good girl and pose a little," Mako grinned, holding up a camera. "You're an adorable little marshmallow mascot after all."

Coral crossed her arms, turning slightly away from him and glaring directly at the camera, a small blush still on her face. "Call me that again and I'll kick you right in the balls."

Mako, however, replied by snapping the picture. Coral gasped, racing over and peering over Mako's shoulder, seeing herself slightly turned away, glaring angrily with a small blush on her face. Mako grinned. "Perfect, and on the first try to!"

"Delete it!" Coral whined, attempting to hit him but being held back by Orabelle and Kai. "Delete it right now or I will-"

But what Carol would do to Mako would never be known, because at that moment the front door to Orabelle's apartment flew open, and an elderly Inkling strolled on in. He took off his Legendary Cap which had covered his greying tentacles, placing it on the hat and coat rack near the front door. He then let out a loud yawn as he stretched, his Forge Inkling Parka looking like it could tear from the stress it was under. He sighed afterwards, kicking off his Tan Work Boots as he began strolling to the kitchen of the complex.

"Daddy!" Orabelle cheered, racing after him. Her teammates shrugged, and decided to follow after her. "How was work?"

"Same old, same old," Orabelle's dad replied, pouring some coffee into a mug. "The boss has me doing some patrols." He looked at Orabelle, then to her teammates. "Old captain has me working hard these days."

"Captain?" Mako asked.

"Mako, Kai, Coral, this is my dad," Orabelle introduced.

"General Nemo Bay." He stated, sitting down.

"General," Kai gave a mock salute.

"Easy with the salute, kid, you aren't in uniform," General Bay laughed, but he saluted back. "But I will accept it anyway… Toru's daughter and nephew, right?"

"Y-yes sir, but how did you know?" Coral asked, shocked.

"Orabelle told me about her new team yesterday," General Bay stated. "The second I heard the name Reef and Wave, I knew who she was talking about. Plus, I could tell from a glance who you two were, seen some younger pictures of you two growing up. Old Reef kept in touch with those that he served with…"

Mako blinked, clearly impressed. "Well, it was nice to meet you, sir… but we do need to photoshop our logo together."

"There's a computer in the office," General Bay said. "You four can use that."

"Thank you, sir," Mako nodded.

"Coral, can I speak with you for a moment longer?" General Bay asked.

"O-of course," Coral nodded, sitting down across from him as the others left.

"How are you liking Inkopolis?" General Bay asked, looking a little concerned for her.

"I'm managing," Coral smiled. "My looks makes it hard to make friends, though…"

"My daughter doesn't judge by outward appearance," General Bay said, before looking at Coral with a knowing look. "Nor would I think she would judge you if she found out you were half-Octarian."

Coral planed. "H-how did you know a-about that?"

"The purple markings are an obvious sign, plus I knew your mother," General Bay stated. "You look so much like her as well, Coral. Toru may have been a military man, but he hated fighting. Not sport fighting like Turf Wars, he loved those, but when it came to any actual battles he tried to avoid them. Toru had a wild dream, a dream of a world where Inklings and Octarians would get along. He was right in thinking there were some Octarians that just wanted peace, and your mother was a big believer in a world where Inklings and Octarians could co-exist in the same place."

"Do you share the same dream, General?" Coral asked, curious.

"I used to think it was a fantasy," General Bay sighed. "Still sometimes think so, but there are signs of hope from time to time that I can't help but cling onto. You're one of them." Coral looked confused, but General Bay smiled. "If your father and mother could put aside their differences and have a child together, it's a sign of hope."

"But Orabelle doesn't know I'm half-Octoling?" Coral asked. "I thought being your daughter, she would know."

"No, Orabelle doesn't know what an Octoling looks like," General Bay stated.

 _That explains one thing,_ Coral thought to herself. "So, all you're doing at work is patrol now?"

"Your dad and I don't have much else to do," General Bay said. "Well, not since the Great Zap Fish was stolen."

"I-it was what?" Coral asked, stunned and wide-eyed.

"You don't just lose a giant electric catfish and their children," General Bay noted. "It was taken by Octarians, and me and Toru…"

"Got them back?" Coral asked.

"…no," General Bay admitted. "We searched for other signs of the disappearance on the orders of the mayor. He thought the Captain had lost his touch and was crazy to think the Octarians did it, but the Captain seemed to just know they did it. He went behind our backs, and got one of his personal agents to do the work."

"Agents?" Coral asked.

"Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this, but since you are a military daughter, you should know," General Bay muttered. "The Captain has three secret agents, often deploys them on missions too, without our knowing. Usually the military can only be deployed by the government, but the Captain found a work around. He has the agents, which he can use at will without the mayor's consent."

"You wouldn't happen to know the identity of them?" Coral asked, then quickly realized what she was asking. "N-not that I want to know!"

"Believe me, kid, I wish I did," General Bay said. "I don't blame the old man, if I was in his shoes I'd do the same thing. If I knew the Octarians stole the zap fishes, I would send someone after them regardless of the government's knowledge… but I do know this, the kid he sent was 14 and managed to single handily get back all the zap fish as well as defeat Octavio, leader of the Octarians."

"T-that's insane!" Coral gasped.

"It really is." General Bay stated. "That Agent 3 sure must be something… but I kept you too long. Don't let your teammates know what I told you. I just had the feeling you might want to know due to your Octoling blood…"

"I appreciate you telling me this," Coral bowed, getting up. But her mind was racing with thoughts. How could someone around her age defeat the entire Octarian army, as well as their leader, recusing the zap fish in the process. They would have to be insanely skilled to pull that off. Yet she herself knew some pretty skilled Inklings, two of whom were at the computer when Coral walked into the room, joining her brother in looking over Mako's shoulder as he edited the picture of Coral underneath a fancy font written 'Purple Rain'.

Mako and her were mostly even during their duel, with Coral coming out on top, but how did Coral know that Mako wasn't holding back on purpose? What if he was better than he was letting on? Coral couldn't help but wonder if Mako was Agent 3, and just was holding back his skills to blend into society after all his experience with the Octarians. But at the same time, Orabelle did come from a military family. Maybe she was secretly Agent 3, going behind her father's back to join the military and save Inkopolis without revealing herself. Coral couldn't even lay a hand on her during their match. She was the most skilled person Coral had faced, and with her distance she could've taken out every Octarian she faced with no problem, perhaps even going as far as splatting the leader of the Octarians himself when his guard was down.

"Coral?" Orabelle asked, looking over at her. "Are you ok?"

"What?" Coral asked, snapping out of her thoughts. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"You can take the outfit off now," Mako snickered. "We are done with the shoot. Unless you want to keep it on, that is."

Coral glared at him, before huffing and leaving the room to change, her thoughts drifting once again back to the whole situation. If they were Agent 3, they wouldn't just downright tell her, she would have to get to the bottom of it herself, but the question was how.

XxXxXxX

Coral awoke the next day, grumbling as she rubbed her head. She had spent a majority of the night overthinking this whole Agent 3 thing, so much so that she barely got any sleep. Coral yawned loudly, reaching over and shutting off her alarm clock, before getting out of bed and stretching. If she was going to try and get to the bottom of this, she might as well start with another person from the military.

"Dad?" Coral asked, walking out of her room and into the kitchen.

"Coral, you're up early," Toru said surprised.

"Yeah, I actually wanted to spend some with you before you left for work," Coral said. "Maybe you can tell me about the Squidbeak Splatoon."

Toru chucked a little. "I heard you met General Bay yesterday. Yes, he was my commander in the military for a quite some time until I got promoted myself. We mostly just acted as patrol though, as the Octarians weren't exactly an active sort."

"Until recently?" Coral asked. Toru looked at her confused, with Coral suddenly blurting out. "Y-you have been busy lately, dad!"

Toru shook his head, setting his coffee down. "Coral, you are old enough to know about what is happening in Inkopolis, even when no other Inkling does. I assume General Bay already told you a lot though."

"Y-yes he did," Coral admitted. "About the agents and all that."

"Well, Agent 3 did what they did," Toru stated. "But there is still much to do, and now that the mayor knows the Octarians did indeed steal the Zap Fish, he plans on making sure this can never happen again. That is what the military is up to right now, we are going to make sure Inkopolis is inaccessible except to those we want it to be accessible to."

Coral nodded. "You don't know who the agents are, do you?"

Toru shook his head. "That isn't my place, Coral. These agents maybe a branch of the Squidbeak Splatoon, but not my official branch. They don't know what I am up to, so I don't know what they are up to. I trust the Captain has it handled."

Coral nodded, despite not getting anywhere with her answer, she at least found out what her dad was doing now. "Alright, thanks for telling me, dad."

"Anytime, Coral," He smiled, patting her hand before getting up. "Good luck at practice today! I know Purple Rain will win it all!"

Coral laughed. "We'll try, dad! See you!"

Her dad shut the door, missing Coral place her forehead on the table in exhaustion. She had gotten up so early to try and extract some information from her dad, and her acting like she wasn't tired just drained her energy even more.

"Yo," A voice said, causing Coral to bolt awake.

"Huh, what?" Coral sleepily muttered. "W-w-what time is it?"

"It's ten," Kai stated. "We got an hour to meet the others. What is with you? I thought you would sleep in your bed, not at the table."

"G-guess I fell asleep after talking to dad," Coral yawned, rubbing the part of her forehead which was bright red in color. "But for three hours? I might've been tired…"

"I'm brewing some sea tea for you, and I already got the pancakes cooking," Kai stated, eyeing her. "Why did you get up so early to talk to Uncle Toru anyway?"

"I just wanted to spend time with him before he left for work," Coral muttered, puffing her cheeks a little. "He isn't around enough."

"Sure, that's totally it," Kai raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, you think the overtime at the military has something to do with the Zap Fish incident, right?"

Coral looked stunned. "Uh…"

"And, like me, you think the Zap Fish didn't just disappear, right?" Kai asked, looking at Coral. Coral sighed, defeated, so she took a deep breath and began explaining everything General Bay and her dad had told her. By the time she was done, Kai had finished the pancakes, and was handing them to Coral on a plate with a cup of sea tea. Kai thought for a moment once she was done, taking a bite of pancake. "Agent 3, huh? And you think Agent 3 could be Orabelle or Mako?"

"They're defiantly very good," Coral stated. "Almost… military like."

"Orabelle was trained by her dad, Coral," Kai pointed out. "Who IS military. And Mako is more like… I dunno, a tri-hard then a military man kinda person."

"Still, he's good."

"And so are you," Kai pointed out. "How do I know YOU aren't Agent 3?"

Coral glared. "Because we were moving to Inkopolis just AFTER the Zap Fish returned."

"I know, but you see my point, right?" Kai asked. "There are several good Inklings here, and any one of them could be Agent 3."

"I still want to know if it's Mako or Orabelle," Coral muttered.

"All right, fine," Kai sighed. "But don't blame me if you look like an idiot doing it."

* * *

 **I want to give a huge thank you to deviantArt user Razz-Pixel for drawing Coral for me, which is now the "cover" of this story! Search them up on deviantArt or Twitter, she makes amazing art!**


	5. The First Match

**That awkward moment when this chapter takes forever to write because of writers block. Still, I managed to at least get it out, huh? Let me know what you guys think of this one, and I will revise it if it is needed. Honestly, I might take up a Beta Reader in the future...**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"All right, let's stop there for today," Mako said, looking around at the training map, covered in various splotches of purple and green ink. "I think we will clean up in tomorrow's match if we play like that!"

"Speak… for yourself," Coral panted, lying on her back. "I'm so tired… I can hardly walk."

"You sure you aren't getting sick?" Orabelle asked, feeling Coral's forehead for the umpteenth time that day. "You're getting tired very easily."

"Coral has a stamina issue," Kai explained. "I keep telling her to start going on long distance runs every morning like I do, but she doesn't listen. Then she complains about how multiple matches in a row tire her out."

"Well, stamina aside, I figured that we should go over the match tomorrow," Mako stated, and with his finger he dipped it into his bucket, and began drawing on the wall with his green ink. "Tomorrow we are facing a team known as 'Squid Party'."

"You mean that thing squids do where they transform really quick while jumping over and over?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like a very threatening team to me."

"Don't let first impressions fool you," Orabelle warned him. "We faced a few of their members before, and trust us when we say they are really skilled. They are all B to A ranked as well."

"And the highest we got is Mako at Rank B," Kai sighed. "Seems fairly unmatched to me."

"It isn't all about rank," Mako explained, drawing something that they couldn't see. "You two are very skilled for C minus, and Orabelle here has the skill of an A rank player despite being a C herself." Mako stepped away, and Coral sat up to see the drawing. "The map is going to be Splat Zones on Blackbelly Skatepark, which means we are going to need to defend two zones at once. Usually, both teams head towards the zone on their immediate right, which is the closer of the two, but I want to do things a bit differently."

"How so?" Coral asked, looking at the roughly drawn map of Blackbelly Stakepark on the wall, with two squares indicating the splat zones.

"I'm glad you asked," Mako grinned, drawing two lines from the spawn towards the closer splat zone. "I want Coral and me to head to the close splat zone. With a combination of my bucket and her roller, covering the zone should be easy. We should have it covered within ten seconds of the match beginning. Kai and Orabelle, I want you two to head towards the enemy splat zone." Mako then drew two lines headed from the spawn to the farther splat zone. "Orabelle can pick them off from a distance while Kai rushes in and splats them. Once he does that, there should be enough of his ink in the splat zone to claim it as ours, if not, it shouldn't take too much more to cover the rest of it."

"I see," Orabelle nodded. "We'll take them by surprise by dividing and conquering."

"Exactly!" Mako affirmed. "Now for the enemies themselves, I want you all to pull their page up on the database." Coral reached into her pocked and pulled out her Squid Phone. It only took two quick taps to get to the database, but when she did she was greeted by four pictures with some basic info. "The first member, and leader of their team uses a Zink Mini Splatling, and trust me when I say he's their toughest member." Coral looked down to see an ebony skin colored Inkling with his orange tentacles in braids, wearing a Short Beanie, a Black 8bit FishFly Tee, and Gold Hi-Horses. "His name is Styx Eldoris, and he netted his A easily with his combination of disruptors and bubbler, and loves to bubble when you least expect it, or disrupt you when you are attempting to splat him. Orabelle, if you see him, you need to pick him off the second you can! He's our biggest threat!"

"I understand," Orabelle confirmed, nodding.

"Their second member is an .52 Gal Deco named Tal Eldoris, and yes he is Styx's brother," Mako explained, looking at the picture of an ebony skin colored squid with his orange tentacle hair hanging over his right eye, tied up into a knot in the back. He wore a White Headband, a Black Squideye tee, and Orange Lo-Tops. "With Seekers and Inkstrike, he's another member we need to eliminate fast and hard to make sure he can't Inkstrike any of the Splat Zones, cause if he does, it's instant coverage and instant taking. If any of us see him, he's Piority 1, unless the leader is in your sights, then you need to eliminate him first."

"This sounds fun already," Coral sarcastically stated.

"Third, the Octobrush user, Umiko Hamasaki," Mako scrolled down on his phone, eyeing the picture of a pale colored squid with pink tentacles, which had a long strand going down her left side. She wore a Squid Nordic, a Black Layered LS, and White Seahorses. "She's new to Inkopolis, but like you two she's good despite not being here for long. She attained B rank faster than anyone on her team, and is basically their support member. She'll place Squid Beacons everywhere, so we need to get rid of them unless we want to get jumped, but if you approach her to take her out, make sure she isn't glowing, because she will keep her Kraken handy for dangerous situations."

"They sound pretty well rounded," Kai noted. "Two pure offensive Inklings, and a support one. What else do they got?"

"Their final member is named Yoki Lee, and he's a Bamboozler 14 Mk II," Mako told them. His picture contained a slightly tan squid with pale blue tentacles, hanging down his back in a mock braid. He wore a CoroCoro Cap, a Navy College Sweat, and Cyan Trainers. Silence filled the air as the other three looked from Mako, to their phones, to Mako again. Their leader sighed, "No, I am not joking, and even though the Bamboozler Mk I has a bad rep for being the weakest charger, this guy buffs himself with tons of damage up and knows his weapon. He basically will keep you distracted, or splat you when he has the chance, and his subs and special are deadly as well. He's another disrupter user, so that makes two we need to worry about, and his special is Echolocation. You DON'T want to get hit by that, so if we see him we need to…"

"Take him out as well," Coral sighed. "This is nuts! Their entire team is designed perfectly around each other! How can we match up against that!"

"I got a plan," Mako grinned, taking off his shirt. Coral blushed a little, covering her eyes and yelling at him to put his shirt back on, while Orabelle and Kai just blinked in confusion. Mako then pulled out a CoroCoro Hoodie and pulled it on. "I managed to convince Spike to change the sub abilities on some gear I managed to find, and I like it so much that I decided to make it my new main gear." Mako then pulled out a golf visor and put it on, instantly it changed colors to his normal green. "Even managed to get them at a good price." He kept his White Kicks on, but adjusted the laces so they were snug. "Well?"

"You look like a dork," Coral smirked.

"I'll keep that in mind, Marshmallow Mascot," Mako smarted back, which made Coral fume a bit. "But with Cold-Blooded on this hoodie, even if that Echolocator hits, it will wear off on me faster than normal, so I can sneak away and surprise them later."

"So, what else do we need to know?" Coral asked.

"Simple," Mako grinned. "Orabelle ALSO has echolocator on her E-liter 3K Scope, so we'll bring that in instead of her Custom E-liter Scope, that way we can give them a taste of their own medicine and not get taken by surprise. Orabelle, your main job is to keep their Zink Mini off us, and get that echolocator charged as fast as possible."

"Got it!" Orabelle nodded.

"Kai, your main offense," Mako explained. "You are to hold the zone closest to their spawn, and splat any of them that come your way! Use your Ink Mines how you see fit, especially if you are in danger of getting splatted, and use Inkzooka on their spawn to keep them trapped in there."

"Understood," Kai stated.

"Coral, you are main defense," Mako told her. "You are to hold the Splat Zone that is close to our spawn and make sure none of the enemy team takes it from you. Use your splat bombs to seek out any that are trying to take you by surprise, and your Inkzooka to deal with long range threats."

Coral frowned. "I wanted to be offensive, but ok…"

"What about you?" Orabelle asked.

"I'll be playing both," Mako answered. "Whichever side needs more help, I will be there to clean up. If all goes according to plan, I should mostly be helping Kai hold the second Splat Zone, but if Coral needs assistance I will be there to provide it. They may have a Zink Mini Splatling with Disruptors and Bubbler, but my Tri-Slosher has those as well. Fight fire with fire I always say. Just remember, since we don't have Squid Beacons like they do, we have a slight disadvantage in terms of super jumping, but as long as we take and control the center tower for Orabelle, we shouldn't have an issue, got it?"

"Got it!" They answered, pumped up.

"Good," Mako nodded. "Then take the rest of today off. Rest is important and we need all the energy we can get for tomorrow."

As everyone began to gather up their things and get ready to go, Coral saw her chance. With Kai and Orabelle out of ear shot, she walked directly up to Mako, who was splashing away the drawing he made. "Hey, Mako?"

"If you are going to ask me out, I think the man should do it, ya know?" Mako teased, giving a flirty grin.

"N-No you idiot!" Coral huffed. "I wanted to talk to you about the Great Zap Fish."

"What about it?" Mako asked, raising an eyebrow.

Coral sighed. How was it best to approach this?" You… wouldn't happen to know anything about its disappearance, would you?" About how it was taken?"

"Taken?" Mako asked her.

Coral blushed again, instantly regretted asking him anything at all. He genially seemed confused, that or was a very good actor. "Never mind… forget I said anything."

Mako looked at her strangely for a good few seconds, before shrugging. "Alright, but you shouldn't be thinking up silly conspiracy theories like that. We all know that the Great Zapfish sometimes leaves the tower to go swimming… maybe he just forgot to come back?"

"Yeah, that's probably it," Coral said, turning away quickly to hide her shame. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Mako nodded, and with one last weirded-out look, he turned to leave Coral to gather her thoughts. So Mako either knew nothing about it at all, or was just a great actor. Come to think of it, with Coral beating him how she did, he was around her skill level. Agent 3 seemed leagues above them, so Coral felt foolish to suspect someone that genuinely seemed just as good as her.

"Coral!" A voice shouted, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Orabelle standing there, waving at her. "I'm heading to the ice cream shop! Wanna come!?"

Coral blinked a few times before answering. "Y-yeah, sure!" Of course, Orabelle was still suspect, and this might be the perfect time to ask her if she knew anything about it. As they made their way to the ice cream shop, Coral keep thinking over and over again in her head how she was going to ask Orabelle about all this. Was it better to just approach it carefully like she did with Mako? Or was it better to just ask directly if she knew anything about the Zap Fish incident? She was the daughter of General Bay, so it was possible she already knew the incident happened. The hard part was trying to lead the conversation to Agent 3 from there.

"Hey Orabelle?" Coral asked, as they were both handed their individual ice creams and began heading towards a table.

"Hmm?" Came the response, as she pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I wanted to ask you something," Coral replied, licking her ice cream and carefully choosing her words. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about the Great Zapfish's disappearance awhile back, would you?"

"Other then what my dad told you, no," Orabelle replied, licking her ice cream.

 _Plan B._ Coral thought, then spoke in a whisper. "That Agent 3 must be something though, to think he… or she, is among all of us Inklings, huh?"

Orabelle paused, looking at her ice cream for a moment before taking a lick. Then she looked at Coral with a very serious, non-Orabelle like face. "I'm not Agent 3, if that is what you are getting at."

"I-" Coral started to say.

"Trust me, I wish I knew who Agent 3 was just as much as you do," Orabelle stated, taking another lick of ice cream. "They must be one impressive Inkling, that's for sure."

"Are you sure you aren't Agent 3?" Coral asked, looking at her with pleading eyes. "I can keep a secret you know."

"If I was, you would be the first person I would tell," Orabelle replied, and Coral sensed the upmost sincerity in her words. "But why do you want to find out so bad? Even if you knew, it isn't like there is something you would demand to know from Agent 3, is there?"

Coral thought about it for a moment, and suddenly a realization struck her. She wasn't just curious about the identity of Agent 3 just for the sake of knowing who he or she was, she wanted to know because they battled the Octolings, and there was an especially high possibility that Coral's own mother, if she wasn't already dead, was involved in the whole thing. Coral needed to know about what happened because if her mother was involved, she would want to know, but Orabelle couldn't know that… not yet anyway.

"No, just curious," Coral lied, trying to keep her voice as level as possible so Orabelle couldn't tell she was lying.

"Well, if it was me, I would stop searching for them," Orabelle recommended. "There are probably over a million Inklings in this city, with more coming in every day, and anyone of them could be Agent 3. Hell, look over there! That random red Inkling could be Agent 3 and we wouldn't know it."

"Yeah, he could be," Coral sighed, looking briefly over at him before turning back to her ice cream. "Red isn't a very common color, is it?"

"Says the only red eyed, purple face marked Inkling I know," Orabelle replied teasingly.

Coral suddenly remembered something that General Bay said, that Orabelle had never seen an Octoling in her life. It all hit Coral suddenly, that if Orabelle or Mako were Agent 3, then they would have seen the Octolings, and the possibility of them figuring out what she was would be definite. The fact that Agent 3 and her could have already crossed paths, and they most likely saw her markings and guessed she was a hybrid between an Inkling and an Octoling suddenly terrified her, and even when she reminded herself that Captain Cuddlefish knew who she was, and most likely told Agent 3 of her existence, did nothing to quell this fear that suddenly sprang up inside of her gut. Coral licked her ice cream a bit faster, just to calm herself and focus on something else.

XxXxXxX

Coral giving up on finding the identity of Agent 3 was done just in time. Her focus was entirely on the match that was coming up in 5 minutes, a match that if they lost would set them into last place. Ok sure, no other team had battled yet either, so they would be in last with half of the other teams, but an early start would give them a big advantage, as well as boost their egos and get their team known by the others.

"You all remember the plan?" Mako asked for the fifth time that day. "You got it memorized?"

"Yes, for the love of hell," Coral snapped, glaring at him. "Don't be a nag."

"It's almost time," Kai said, looking outside of the locker room. "We should head towards the spawner."

"Good idea," Orabelle replied, grabbing her snipper as everyone else also grabbed their weapons. The remaining time passed in antsy silence, with each of them having their own thoughts and worries about the match, before suddenly a voice echoed throughout the battle field.

"Hello, every-squid!" The voice shouted, which Coral immediately recognized as Callie from the Squid Sisters. "Welcome to today's main Squid League battle. I am your host, Callie, and to my left is Marie!"

"Callie, they know who we are," Marie replied calmly.

"Let's not waste any time and get this party started!" Callie shouted. "In the purple spawn, a fresh new team of Inklings just making their way into these battles, PURPLE RAIN!" As the team name was shouted, Coral and the others emerged from their ink, weapons at the ready. Coral suddenly felt a nervous feeling in her gut, as she looked around to see stands were set up for other Inklings to watch their battle. "They have Mako Jaws with the Tri-Slosher, Orabelle Bay with the E-liter 3K Scope, Kai Wave with the Luna Blaster, and Coral Reef with the Carbon Roller!"

"In the light green spawn is a team known as Squid Party," Marie said, and Coral could only imagine that they emerged from their spawn as well. "They are a team that made an appearance last year, and almost won it all in the end, but were beaten by Ink Jam in the title match! Returning members include Styx Eldoris with the Zink Mini Splatling, Tal Eldoris with his .52 Gal Deco, and Yoki Lee with his Bamboozler 14 Mk II. Their newcomer is Umiko Hamasaki with an Octobrush."

"The game type today is Splat Zones!" Callie announced. "Players must attempt to cover two central zones in ink! Once a team has covered a majority of a zone in their ink, the zone is captured! If both zones are in control of one team, their points begin counting down! Both teams will start with 100 points, and the first to get their score to 0 wins the match! However, if time runs out before either team can reduce their score to 0, then the team with the lowest score left will win the match!"

"Losing control of just one zone will stop that team's countdown clock," Marie explained. "If they can take back both zones, the clock will resume counting down from where it was at. However, if the other team takes control, the team that had control originally receives a penalty. If the team with a penalty takes back the zones, they must wait for the penalty time to decrease to zero before their main timer will begin decreasing again."

"If the losing team is in control of the zones and the game clock runs out, the game will go into overtime!" Callie explained. "If the team in the lead can recapture the zone, they will win! However, if the losing team keeps control of the zone until their countdown timer has less points than the current leader, they will win instead!"

"Both teams, get ready," Marie warned. Coral bent her knees and held her roller at the ready, letting out a deep sigh. _Don't get detracted by the crowd… you got a match to win._

"GO!" Both Squid Sisters shouted. Amongst the cheering of the crowds, Coral could hear her roller slam onto the ground and she rushed forward, heading down the slope of the skatepark and racing towards the closer splatzone. To her left, she could see Orabelle firing a shot of ink, which gave Kai a nice trail to swim forward. To her right, Mako was also splashing some ink with his bucket, focus in his eyes.

Coral leapt forward and instantly made a huge splash of ink inside of the outlined zone, as Mako sloshed his bucket forward and covered the rest of the zone. A chime went off, signaling the zone instantly was theirs. Mako looked at her and nodded. "Stay here and defend! I will go assist the others!"

"OK!" Coral shouted back, but right before her eyes a sniper shot rang out and Mako was vaporized in green ink. Coral ducked to the left and looked forward to see Yoki Lee standing on a ledge, his Bamboozler in hand.

"Shit!" Mako's voice echoed in her ear piece. "Orabelle, Kai, they had the same plan we did!"

"We didn't take them by surprise either!" Orabelle shouted, a faint sniper shot sounding in the background.

"It was like they were expecting this!" Kai noted, anger clear in his voice.

"Coral, do not engage the sniper till I get there," Mako commanded. "Hold out as long as you can, but don't try and fight him."

"Got it, I-" Coral said, but all of the suddenly pain filled her body. She turned her head just in time to see an Octobrush swing through the air and deliver the final blow, splatting her. Umiko Hamasaki took this time to splat the zone Coral was defending, and in a second claimed it for their own.

"Squid Party has control of both zones!" Callie announced. "Purple Rain needs to make a comeback here or else!"

"Plan B, Orabelle and Kai, rush the zone closer to us," Mako commanded. "Coral and I are heading over there now!"

"Roger that!" Kai said, sinking into his ink and swimming back towards the zone just captured by Squid Party. He popped out behind Umiko, and managed to take her out in two quick shots. Yoki then lined up his shot, but before he could fire, Orabelle had a shot charged, and managed to take him out before Kai was sniped.

"Not bad," A voice from Kai's left said. "But take this!" Kai turned just in time to see a .52 Gal pointed at him, and before he could do anything, he was splatted instantly by a series of shots. Tal Eldoris sighed, looking at where Kai was standing before. "Huh, thought he would have better reaction time than that."

"Then try me on for size!" Coral shouted, leaping out of nowhere. Tal's mouth flew open in surprise as he tried to move, but Coral managed to catch him in her roller, splatting him instantly. "Mako, I am securing the area!"

"Look out!" Orabelle shouted suddenly. Coral turned and saw Styx heading towards her, firing rapidly in her direction. Coral was grazed by a few bullets, but she managed to avoid the rest by jumping into her ink. Suddenly, however, pain filled her body. She couldn't move that fast, and at once she knew she was disrupted. The next thing she knew, she was splatted, and sent back to spawn.

"Squid Party is down to 50 points!" Callie announced.

"It looks like this is going to be a Knockout, Callie," Marie stated.

"Damn, they are too good," Coral muttered, respawning. "We can't win."

"Yes, we can," Mako's voice told her. "Orabelle, go after Yoki at all costs! Kai, see if you can distract Umiko from brushing, and destroy the beacon she placed in their Splat Zone. Coral, while they have them distracted you retake our pervious zone and splat Tal if he comes after you."

"What about you?" Orabelle asked, a snipe ringing out and Coral instantly saw Yoki explode in splatted purple ink.

"I'll deal with Styx," Mako replied, a bit of fear in his voice. "I might not win… but I can hold him off until the job is done… GO!"

Coral nodded, and dove back into her ink trail, racing towards the Splat Zone. She saw Tai standing there, about to assist Umiko, who was dealing with Kai. Before he could raise his weapon to fire, however, Coral leaped through the air and splatted him, and moments later, Kai got Umiko. Both Kai and Coral covered the Splat Zone in purple, gaining control.

"What's this?" Callie asked, stunned. "At 23 points left, Coral and Kai take control of the first zone!"

"If they can gain control of the other one, Squid Party will have a 77-point penalty," Marie stated. "That score isn't easy to make up, either, and if Purple Rain continues playing their cards right, they can use that penalty to regain ground and perhaps even take the win!"

"I'm heading to the second Splat Zone!" Coral shouted, diving back into the ink and racing off.

"Coral, no!" Mako shouted. "Stay in the zone you took."

"Kai has it handled," Coral replied, leaping into the air, where she saw Mako about to be splatted by Styx. "Plus, I think you need me." With a big swing, Styx was splatted, and the zone became theirs.

"And Coral takes both zones, with assists from Mako and Kai!" Callie announced.

"That gives Squid Party a 77-point penalty, and begins the countdown of Purple Rain's timer," Marie explained.

"Well, I owe you," Mako muttered. "Orabelle, do you have the tower inked?"

"Up here!" Orabelle shouted from above them. "I can see their movements clear as day!"

"Good, keep up the pressure!" Mako commanded. "And let us know how they move! If we can score a knockout, we get extra points!"

"Ok, they are all heading to the splat zone closest to their spawn!" Orabelle shouted. For a good 80 seconds, they managed to hold the splat zones, until at the last second, Styx managed to splat not only Coral and Mako, but caught Orabelle off guard with a disrupter, which allowed Yoki to get a clean snipe in.

"Oh no, Purple Rain only has 1 point on their clock, but the second splat zone was wrestled from their grasp!" Callie shouted. "If they don't want a 99-point penalty, they need to recapture that second zone and fast!"

"Guys," Kai's scared voice muttered in her ear. "I can't hold them all off."

"Allow me!" Coral shouted, getting ready to super jump. She flew into the air, and pulled out two Burst Bombs. As she fell, she threw both of them down, stunning Styx, Tal and Umiko long enough to land safely, raise her roller, and get an easy triple kill.

"Coral just splatted three Inklings in one swing!" Marie shouted, shocked. "That was some impressive display of skill, right there."

"Yoki is down!" Orabelle shouted, having managed to snipe Yoki right before he picked off Coral.

"And the zone is ours again!" Mako shouted.

"And that is game!" Callie announced. "Judd doesn't even need to announce it for me to know, but Purple Rain just won by knock out!"

"Even so, he is raising the flag to them to make it official," Marie sighed, smiling. "Don't steal his thunder, Callie."

"We won!" Orabelle shrieked excitedly. "We actually won!"

"We did it, guys!" Mako cheered. "Excellent battling, all of you!" Coral smiled as well, then sensed a presence. Standing before her was all four members of Squid Party, who were looking at her with interest.

"Your name is Coral Reef, correct?" Styx asked.

"I am." Coral replied, eyeing him.

Styx smirked. "Very impressive. Shame I didn't find you before these guys did, otherwise you might be on my team now."

"Hey!" Umiko shouted, offended.

"Next time we battle though, the results will be different," Tal declared, but with a smirk on his face.

"We underestimated you, but not again," Yoki smirked. "Count on it."

"We will be waiting for your rematch," Coral said, smirking back, before getting dragged back into the celebration. And as they cheered in victory, all the pervious worries that Coral had about Agent 3 faded away. The only thing she cared about now was her victory, and how much prize money she was going to get from this.


	6. DJ Eight Track

**So, I graduated college! Yay! Now to get a job... curse you adulting!**

 **Anyway, welcome to Chapter 6! I wanted till the final chapter of Squid Sisters Stories was posted and I read it, to incorporate what happened during it into my story. The second that was posted and I saw the trailer for Splatoon 2's single player, I wrote this chapter ASAP! Additionally, thank you NickelScience for reviewing Chapter 5!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **P.S: Lyrics are in bold italic format. I do not own Monster by Skillet, cause I am not Skillet. I also do not own** **Leviathan, who is owned by my good friend The King of Emerald (also thanks to him for being my Beta Reader)**

* * *

Coral began noticing certain trends taking place as her team won victory after victory in the Squid League, the most noticeable was that Inklings were beginning to recognize her outside the league. It seemed like she had admirers around every corner, and the spotlight was beginning to make her a bit uncomfortable. If it wasn't people leering at her for being good at rank battles (or her unnatural markings and eyes), it was little squids asking Coral if they could teach her how to be good with a Carbon Roller, something that she felt like she couldn't explain. Although she used to dislike the Squid Sisters for their idol status, and their popularity seeming to go to their head, she felt herself relating to them more and more whenever she saw them.

That was when she did see them. Coral began noticing Callie and Marie seemed more distant these days, often times only one of them would come to commentate on their matches, or neither of them would show up and it would be some random squid from the studio the Squid Sisters used to work at. Today, only Marie sat up there in the commutators box, talking as the match between Purple Rain and Orange Jam was just finishing up.

"And that is game," Marie stated, as Judd blew his whistle. "Purple Rain's winning streak seems to have ended today, folks, as Orange Jam takes the win! However, Purple Rain still is in first overall for the Squid Leagues, and if they continue to hold this place, they might end up facing Orange Jam in the finals! Tune in for more action tomorrow at 3 pm sharp! Until then, everyone, stay fresh!"

"It doesn't feel the same," Kai mumbled, looking up sadly into the commutators box. "Poor Marie, I hope she's taking things well."

"I wonder what happened between the two of them," Orabelle though out loud, following Mako and Kai into the locker rooms. "Do you think it was... ya know, the final Splat Fest?"

Coral blinked, following Orabelle. She wasn't able to partake in the final Splat Fest due to not having moved to Inkopolis yet, but she had heard all about it. The teams were Callie vs Marie, and Marie ended up being the winner of said event. Although it seemed like no ill will came from the event, with the Squid Sisters even talking and laughing as they had always done afterwards, many Inklings were beginning to think the opposite was true, with the recent events of Callie and Marie seeming to be in two different places, working separately from the other. Could it really all be because of the final Splat Fest?

"I doubt it was because of that," Mako muttered, sighing. "I was there, and Callie and Marie seemed sincere. Regardless of that, let's talk about today's match."

"Are you upset we lost?" Coral asked.

"A little," Mako admitted. "But we faced a very strong team today, and we did our best. We just need to train harder for our rematch with them."

"That's if we face them again," Kai stated, sighing.

"We will," Mako confirmed. "I know all four of their members. We... go back, you could say."

"You do?" Coral asked, confused.

"Yeah, three of them used to be on a separate team with me," Mako explained. "The girl on their team... is my ex-girlfriend."

"Ouch," everyone said at once. The girl in question was named Brooke Ford, and she was very aggressive during their match. She was a grey color before the match started, with short tentacles similar to Coral, with grey eyes. She was wearing a Bobble Hat, a Black Anchor Tee, and Strapping Reds, wielding a Tri-Slosher.

"Wait, she modeled those outfits that are coming out next year, didn't she?" Orabelle asked.

"That's the same girl," Mako confirmed.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you two..." Kai stated.

"Break up?" Mako finished his question, and sighed. "More like I was a dumb-squid. Thought she was too good for a guy like me, so I ended it with her. I don't think she has hard feelings though."

"Tell that to my face," Coral muttered. Out of them all, Brooke splatted her the most.

"She's got a very aggressive play style," Mako nervously chucked. "Don't take it personally, though I will admit she DID seem to have it out for you."

Coral sighed, leaning her Carbon Roller against the wall. "If she thinks were dating, she is DEAD wrong."

"What about the other three?" Kai asked, looking at his squid phone at the Orange Jam team page. The first squid was named Niko Cerulean, who had light green tentacles tied up into a pony tail out of his yellow eyes. The second squid was named Tide Star, and he had orange tentacles hanging down, almost like a female squid, with pink eyes. He defiantly could be mistaken for a girl, and sometimes was by certain Inklings. The third squid was named Ray Finn, and he had his yellow hair slicked on his head, with brown eyes.

"They were former friends of mine," Mako explained. "But I think they all had the hots for my girl, cause when I broke up with her, they sided with her and invited her to form a Squid League team with them. She accepted, but I don't know the reason why. Long story short, it's actually the only reason I am part of Purple Rain. Originally, I was going to form a team with them, but..."

"Obviously that couldn't have happened," Kai mumbled sadly. "Sorry, man."

Mako shook his head and began walking out of the locker rooms. "No biggie, I got better friends now, right? Let's just focus on beating them next time. See ya for practice tomorrow."

"I... didn't know," Coral admitted, looking sadly after him.

"I didn't either," Orabelle admitted, looking on the verge of tears. "He never told me why they broke up, just that they did..."

Coral frowned, a determined look on her face. "Well, next time we face them, we're going to win, for Mako!"

"Yeah!" Kai cheered, pumping his fist into the air. "Next time we face them, we'll show them that they shouldn't have betrayed their friend like that!"

Orabelle nodded, determination filling her face as well. They began heading out of the locker rooms and were almost out of the building when Coral suddenly remembered she forgot her roller in the lockers. Telling the others not to wait up, Coral doubled back and sprinted into the locker rooms, where to her surprise she found Marie sitting there.

"Oh... um, hi," Coral awkwardly said, staring at the Squid Sister in shock.

"Hello, Coral," Marie greeted her. "If you are looking for your roller, it's right over there."

"Thanks," Coral muttered, dashing over a little too quickly to grab it. Marie noticed this, however, and let out a little giggle.

"Nervous?" Marie asked, eyeing the shorter Inkling.

"I just... have never been in the presence of an idol before, that's all," Coral stammered. _Gurl, what are you doing!? You sound like a total idiot!_ Coral then blinked, "Why are you in the locker rooms, anyway?"

"I actually wanted to talk to your team," Marie admitted. "But it seems like I missed you guys by a bit."

"Yeah, things got a little dramatic," Coral muttered.

"Oh, nothing too bad, I hope," Marie expressed, clearly worried.

"Oh no, just Mako revealed to us that Brooke was his ex-girlfriend," Coral blurted out. _Ahh! Why did you say that? It was a secret!_

"Oh my... well just you is fine," Marie stated. "With Purple Rain currently in first, we need you guys to pose for a new story and do some quick interviews. Sadly I won't be giving them, an intern will. It won't be long, but we need all of you to be there. Do you know of a time that is good for your team, or should this wait till later?"

"Ummm," Coral began thinking. "Well, we are practicing in Saltspray tomorrow from 1 pm till 3, maybe afterwards your interviewer can come to talk to us?"

"Perfect, that works," Marie said, jotting down the note. Coral couldn't help but noticed she seemed a little off from her usual self.

"Are you ok?" Coral asked.

"Oh, yes," Marie sighed.

"I don't buy it," Coral frowned. "Look, I know you might not want to spill everything to a random stranger, especially being who you are, but something is clearly bothering you."

Marie sighed again, but smiled a defeated smile. "Would you care to join me for some coffee?"

"Wait, what?"

XxXxXxX

Never in her entire life would Coral imagine that she would be in this situation, sitting across from one of the Squid Sisters, over coffee. Well, coffee for Marie, in Coral's case she had a nice cup of sea tea in front of her. Marie and Coral both were taking a few sips in silence before Marie began to talk.

"It's about Callie mostly," Marie admitted. "I am sure you've noticed how separate we seem lately. I just feel as though Callie is jealous of me now, or maybe even holds a grudge against me. But at the same time, whenever I think this, I feel as though winning that final Splat Fest has given me a superiority complex, made me full of myself."

Coral blinked. All her life, she imagined the Squid Sisters as stars only, never even thinking they were deeper then that. To see a Squid Sister in front of her now, looking depressed and admitting fears to her, suddenly seemed to shatter the dislike she had of them. They weren't just popular idols on a stand, they were Inklings to, and just like her and other Inklings they had fears, and real emotions behind them. Coral must've looked very strange, because Marie suddenly looked worried.

"Oh, how unprofessional of me," Marie sadly said. "Forgive me."

Coral shook her head instantly. "No, don't be sorry. You can't expect yourself to be putting on an act all the time. You're an Inkling just like the rest of us, and just like the rest of us, there are times where your emotions get the best of you... but trust me when I say that I sense no ill will from Callie at you. No one on my team does either, Marie. I'm sure just your busy schedules are in the way, and before you know it, Callie will show you she's still her same old self."

Marie smiled a genuine smile at that. "Thanks, Coral. You're too kind."

Coral shrugged. "It's no problem, I just know what it's like to be outcasted from society."

Marie and Coral continued sipping their drinks, talking occasionally. Finally, the conversation moved to music. "So what kind of music are you into?" Marie asked Coral.

"Well," Coral thought for a minute. How could she say this without offending the Squid Sister name? "I'm mostly into Punk, Rock, Alternative and Metal... lots and lots of Metal."

"I see," Marie replied, a twinkle in her eye. "You just listen to music, or..."

"I actually have practiced mixing tracks on an old soundboard in my spare time," Coral admitted, blushing a little.

Marie clapped her hands suddenly. "So you have experience being a DJ?"

Coral blinked in surprise. "Uh, very amateur stuff, but yeah?"

Marie grinned. "Well, how would you like to be a studio DJ?"

"W-what!?" Coral gasped in shock. "I-I... you're joking, right?"

"Nope," Marie grinned wider. "We actually are looking to fill a weekday night DJ spot, and your music tastes are perfect. Of course, you'd have to try out and be selected, but no one else we've interviewed yet seems to know the front end of a soundboard. You, however, might be perfect for this job! Since it's at night, you don't have to worry about it interfering with your Squid League... just your sleeping schedule."

"I'm normally a night owl anyway," Coral admitted, her eyes widening. "A-are you sure I could apply?"

"Tell you what," Marie took out another sheet of paper and began writing on it. "I'll make sure you got an interview time for a week from now at 7:30, and to make the deal even sweeter, I'll throw in this." Marie slid the paper across the table with a CD, which Coral read as 'Leviathan'.

"Leviathan?" Coral asked, confused. "Never heard of him before. Sounds kinda cheesy if you ask me."

"He's an up and coming artist, and I owe him a favor," Marie explained. "I promised I would get him on the radio, but his music doesn't fit in with any other DJs taste. Yours, however, they fit in with. Give the CD a listen, and I guarantee you'll love it! Just think of it being the first CD in your DJ collection!"

"T-thanks, Marie," Coral said, taking both the CD and her note reminding her of the interview in a week. "I won't forget this favor you did me."

"Hey, you listened to me in my hour of need," Marie smiled at her. "Call this repayment."

XxXxXxX

"YOU GOT TO TALK TO WHO!?"

"Blow my ears out, why don't you?" Coral muttered, glaring at Kai, who's jaw was dropped. Coral had just gotten home from coffee with Marie, and was in her room looking at the Leviathan CD. She just got done telling Kai about how she met Marie and got the CD from her. Kai, however, seemed to only be focused on one thing.

"I can't believe it!" Kai shouted, seemingly angry. "You, the only person I know that dislikes the Squid Sisters, got to meet one of them!"

"Well, dislikes is a strong word..." Coral mumbled, finding herself fond of Marie after they had met, as well as relating to them more and more as she seemed to become more popular and well known. "Anyway, because you seem to have forgotten the rest of my story, we're being interviewed after pratice tomorrow, and I got a job interview in a week from now for a DJ position."

"Oh, that's cool," Kai muttered. "Still, you met Marie!"

"In one ear, out the other," Coral hissed.

"Alright, alright," Kai said. "I'm jealous, but mostly over it."

"Mostly," Coral sighed.

"So, this DJ position is kind of your big break, huh?" Kai grinned, sitting on Coral's bed. "You've been praticiing mixing songs since you were little on an old soundboard Uncle Toru found at a garage sale. Seems awesome to take that hobby and make it a job, huh?"

"Yeah, and Marie," Coral began, however Kai squealed at the name interrupting her. Coral sighed and continued. "She said that since it was a nighttime job, it wouldn't interfere with my Squid League matches."

"Well, that's good," Kai smiled. "We don't need our roller leaving the team, especially since we are in first place. Welp, I am off to bed, see you."

"Later," Coral muttered, once again looking at the Leviathan CD that Marie had given her. She stared at it for a little bit, thinking to herself that if this guy was so good, she should have heard about him somewhere by now. Most artists got their start at small gigs, but if this guy already made a CD, he must've already had a gig or two by now. Surely after a few of those his name would at least be out there, unless he was just not doing gigs yet. Coral sighed, deciding that it couldn't hurt to at least listen to the first song. She opened her CD player and popped the CD in, putting on her headphones before hitting play. Instantly, a guitar filled her ears, before being joined by a bass and drums. The singer then began singing in a gruff voice.

 _ **The secret side of me, I never let you see**_

 _ **I keep it caged but I can't control it**_

 _ **So stay away from me, the beast is ugly**_

 _ **I feel the rage and I just can't hold it**_

 _ **It's scratching on the walls, in the closet, in the halls**_

 _ **It comes awake and I can't control it**_

 _ **Hiding under the bed, in my body, in my head**_

 _ **Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?**_

 _ **I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **My secret side I keep hid under lock and key**_

 _ **I keep it caged but I can't control it**_

 _ **'Cause if I let him out he'll tear me up, break me down**_

 _ **Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?**_

 _ **I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **It's hiding in the dark, it's teeth are razor sharp**_

 _ **There's no escape for me, it wants my soul, it wants my heart**_

 _ **No one can hear me scream, maybe it's just a dream**_

 _ **Maybe it's inside of me, stop this monster**_

 _ **I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I've gotta lose control, here's something radical**_

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

 _ **I, I feel like a monster**_

Coral pressed pause once the song was done, sitting there for the longest time, her eyes wide in shock before she finally muttered to herself, "This guy is good... how hasn't he become popular yet?"

XxXxXxX

The week passed with Coral finishing the Leviathan CD, and deciding that if she gets the job, his Monster song would be the first one that she played on air, just to get him out there. She planned on getting him known, as she felt like her fellow rock lovers would like him just as much as she did.

However, the issue was getting the job.

She stood inside of the studio lobby awkwardly. Marie said nothing about what she had to do when she was there, or even if she would be the one interviewing her. All Marie told her was that the interview would be at 7:30, nothing else. Deciding that she needed to talk to someone, Coral walked up to the secretary at the desk, who had her white tentacles in a bun, her green eyes focused on the screen as she typed on her computer.

"Um, I got an interview at 7:30," Coral told the secretary.

"Nice try, kid," the woman replied, not even looking at her. "I've heard that one a million times and it won't work. Go home and think of one better."

"But I'm sure it was set up," Coral frowned, losing the awkwardness immediately at the rudeness. "You can look yourself for Coral Reef."

"Ok, I looked, you aren't there, now go away," the secretary replied. Knowing she didn't really look, Coral was getting ready to fly over the desk and give his woman two swollen eyes, his fists tightened and her teeth clenched together.

"Coral!" a familiar voice shouted from the side. Coral turned to see Callie standing there, waving over at her. "Marie told me to expect you for your interview! Come on!"

Coral nodded, walking over to where Callie was standing. She turned once in the elevator with the Squid Sister to see the secretary looking after them, a look of pure shock on her face. Coral stuck her tongue out at her as the elevator closed.

"Is she always like this?" Coral asked Callie.

"Sadly, she is," Callie admitted, sighing, but not losing her signature smile. "Hard to blame her, though, people try to get in here all the time."

"She could've at least checked for my name though," Coral muttered. "Say, is Marie here today?"

"Sadly, she isn't," Callie replied. "She's got a interview scheduled for around this time, but mentioned you when we went shopping a few days ago. I made sure I would be free to meet up with you." Knowing that the two of them went shopping together made Coral happy, who couldn't help but smile at that knowledge. Suddenly the elevator stopped, and Callie and Coral both stepped out, with Callie leading the way until they reached a door with the label 'Gal'.

"So, this Gal guy...?" Coral asked.

"He's the boss and will be interviewing you," Callie replied, laughing a little at Coral's worried face. "Don't worry, you'll kill it! Marie told me you know how to work a soundboard, and that is already fantastic! Good luck!"

"Thanks, Callie," Coral muttered nervously, walking inside the door as Callie opened it. Callie closed it behind her, which caught the attention of an elderly looking Inkling with orange tentacles and blue eyes. "Ah, Coral, correct? Come have a seat."

"Yes, sir," Coral said, sitting down a little quickly. Gal dug though some papers before pulling out the paper Coral recognized as the one Marie wrote on just after their coffee.

"So, Coral, Marie tells me that you already own a soundboard and have been mixing songs for awhile now," Gal stated.

"Yeah, dad bought an old one and let me try it," Coral replied. "Turns out, I was good at using it so I kept practicing."

"Well, let me ask you a few questions to make sure you know how to work a soundboard," Gal replied. "First, explain to me what a soundboard is and does."

"A soundboard, otherwise known as a mixing console, is an electronic device for combining, routing, and changing the volume level, timbre and dynamics of many different audio signals," Coral replied.

"Very good," Gal replied, already beaming. "None of the other Inklings I've interviewed so far could describe it with such accuracy. Ok, what does a DJ do?"

"A DJ, or disc jockey, is a person who mixes different sources of pre-existing recorded music as it is playing. Usually they perform at nightclubs, or in this case, for radio broadcasting," Coral replied.

"Alright, you really know your stuff, huh?" Gal laughed. "I'm sorry if this all seems stupid and basic, but I need to make sure you're the real thing, and to do that, one final question."

"Yes, sir?"

"Can you mix together just any two songs?"

"No, sir," Coral replied. "The songs you can mix together depend on..."

Gal shook his head, holding up his hand. "As long as you know all that, I believe you are good to go! You'd be suprised, I once hired a guy who tried to mix Squid Sisters with Nightwish." Coral cringed, prompting a laugh from Gal. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, you're hired Coral... but before we go about getting your contract in order, I think you would do better to adapt a DJ name, or radio personality name... got any ideas?"

Coral thought about it long and hard. She would be playing to the entire Inkopolis city shortly, and to distance herself from her radio personality would be a good idea, but what name would fit her.

"How about... DJ Eight Track?" Coral suggested.

Gal grinned widely at that. "I like it, love it! Consider yourself hired... DJ Eight Track!"


	7. The Final Match

**So in terms of length, this is one of the longest chapters I've written for any story. Just insert the "New Record" voice track from Mario Party 2 here.**

 **Welcome to Chapter 7. Thanks to The King of Emerald as always for checking my chapters over for mistakes, and thanks to TheMoonThatFell for enjoying the story. Additionally, since I know a friend of mine shared this story inside of the 'Fun Times with Woomies' discord server... HELLO EVERYONE FROM THE FUN TIMES WITH WOOMIES DISCORD!**

 **If you dunno who Fun Times with Woomies is, it's a YouTube series by CallieMacN, with over 6,000 subscribers at the time of uploading this chapter. I recommend watching it, as it is very funny and I've gotten to know all seven of the regulars very well.**

 **Promoting aside, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"CRAP!"

Inklings turned their heads in confusion, barely being able to make out a white and purple blur racing past them towards Inkopolis Plaza, more specifically heading directly towards the radio tower off to the side where occasionally Callie and Marie could be seen hanging out through the window. Coral was told to be at the studio fifteen minutes early to get a debriefing on everything, and unfortunately for the young teenager, she had only remembered how early she had to be there just in time. Coral burst through the doors of the studio building, racing past the secretary, who merely did an eye roll at her display, rushing towards the stairs and sprinting up them three at a time. She dashed up towards the fifth floor and burst into the third door on the left, catching the attention of Gal, who was standing in the room with his arm raised, crossing over his chest, showing his watch, which he seemed to have just been glancing at.

"There you are," he said with a grin. "Just barely in time to."

"G-give me a s-second," Coral panted, before taking a deep gasp of air. "A-any water in this place?"

"I'll be sure you have a bottle," Gal told her. "Now, this might not be what you are used to, but..."

Coral finally looked around room and her face paled a little. The soundboard she was staring at was gigantic compared to the small black one she used in her room. This particular one was silver in color with a pair of silver headphones already attached to them, a microphone also emerging from it pointing directly at a chair in the room. Coral could see the soundboard also have several more channels then what she was used to, with four places for vinyl records and cds, instead of the two present on her's.

"Whoa..." Coral gasped, staring in awe. "So this is why you called me in here early."

"I wanted you to get a feel for the technology before you went live," Gal stated, looking concerned at her. "If you think it is too overwhelming to perform tonight, we can just air re-runs of the Kelly Show."

Coral cringed at that, "No offense, but I think it would be better if I went live, regardless of if I suck or not. Besides, you guys have been advertising for me all week, and I would rather not disappoint the crowd... if there is any."

Gal shrugged at that, but he gave a smile all the same. "Alright, you're live in thirteen minutes. Do your best, DJ Eight Track." But as he left the room, he missed Coral paling even more as she looked over at the giant of a mixing console present in the room. Coral took a deep breath, walking over and beginning to analyze what was in front of her. Despite it's massive appearance, it was still a regular soundboard, with all the levers, knobs, and sliders she was used to playing with. Coral's face began to regain some color as she smirked at the device, calming down a little on the inside.

Coral got to work right away, taking off the backpack she brought with her and plugging her laptop into the soundboard. She then booted her normal mixing program, and was even more pleased to see the program detected the soundboard and was compatible with it. She had brought most of her CDs just in case it wasn't going to work and she had to play off her records manually, but this would make it much easier to use.

"Five minutes, Ms. Eight Track," a studio employee walked in, carrying with him a water bottle.

"Thanks," Coral replied, taking the water bottle, cracking it open, and downing half of it as he left. She continued working, putting several sounds on the queue, with the top sound being Monster by Leviathan. She had done some research on the artist, and as it turns out he had already done some concerts and was known by some crowds, but wasn't too wide spread yet. Coral looked at the song on the screen with a determined face, knowing that several people, provided that enough people were tuning in to hear the new DJ of course, would be hearing this song for the first time.

"In five," a voice filled her headphones. "Four. Three. Two. One... You're live!"

"Hello, Inkopolis," Coral energetically said into the mic. "This is DJ Eight Track and welcome to the 9 PM show! We got a bunch of music lined up for you tonight, all mixed together for your enjoyment! But before we got onto the main show, we're gonna play a song by an artist that not many people have heard off! I hope you all like this song, it's Monster by Leviathan!"

As the song filled her ears, Coral muted her studio mic and leaned back. Since he wasn't mixing at the time, and only playing the song so Inklings tuning in could hear it, she didn't have to do much. She couldn't help but tap her foot along to the song, however.

"And that was Monster by Leviathan," Coral repeated, after muting herself once the song ended. "Now let's go to the live feed on the studio website and see what you all think, first response... 'Oh my, this artist and song are amazing! I'm going to buy his music on SplatTunes right now!' That was an squid by the name of Shelby, glad you liked the song!"

More feedback began coming in, and Coral actually had to pause the stream of responses, sweat dropping in response. "Alright, let's see... Ah, here's one from Sapphire, who says, in all caps... 'WHO IS THIS SQUID? I WOULD LET HIM-'..." Coral immediately began blushing and scrolled down the feed. "Um, moving on... ah, here's one, 'Great music! I've seen this guy perform live, but never have heard his music on the radio. Glad you are promoting him, and I hope his sales boost now!'," Coral smiled widely at this. "Thanks for all the positive feedback, seems like everyone has enjoyed the song! Now we're gonna get into the main show and mix together some old favorites!"

For the remainder of the three hours she was on air, Coral mixed songs together, occasionally sneaking in more Leviathan material for promotion. The feedback continued rolling in, with reviewers loving the Leviathan material, as well as Coral's skills in general.

"Alright guys, that is all the time I have on the air," Coral stated, grinning, "But tune in tomorrow night, same time, for more! This has been DJ Eight Track, signing off!" Once she was cut from the air, Coral heard the sounds of the Kelly Show starting up, but Coral instantly removed the headphones from her head. Shuttering as she yawned, exhaustion clear, she stood up and began stretching, just as Gal came into the studio.

"Great work," Gal said with a grin. "The DJ Eight Track show was met with positive feedback, and I think you will be pleased to know that the Leviathan material you aired also was met with amazing feedback as well!"

"I'm glad to hear it, sir," Coral breathed with a tired smile.

"You go home and get some rest, you earned it," Gal patted her on the head. "I'll be sure to tell the Squid SIsters of your success as well."

XxXxXxX Three Months Later XxXxXxX

"And Purple Rain takes the semifinal win in this match folks," Callie cheered, grinning widely. "Their victory against Killer Kraken nets them a spot in the finals!"

"Whoever wins this next match will be their opponent," Marie explained, happiness radiating off her because she was with Callie. "The next match in the semifinals will be Squid Party versus Orange Jam. Both teams have faced Purple Rain in the past, and I for one know that both teams are eager to get to the finals for a rematch."

"Regardless, let's not waste anytime and get this match underway!" Callie yelled, earning cheers from the audience.

"Well, time to see who we will be fighting against," Coral muttered, sighing.

"This sucks," Kai groaned, sitting on the bench in the locker room. "I was hoping we could get our rematch against Orange Jam in, while facing Squid Party again."

"Well, guess there is no use complaining about it," Orabelle stated. "We just need to see who wins."

Coral nodded, but Mako didn't speak or move. He remained focused on the television mounted high up on the wall of the locker room, watching as both Squid Party and Orange Jam faced off against one another in Tower Control.

"And Styx Eldoris attempts to hold the tower as it nears the end, it looks like... wait, no, Ray Finn picks him off with his Kelp Splat Charger and stops the tower in its tracks!" Callie shouted, announcing to everyone.

"Brooke Ford is rapidly approaching and is able to grab the tower, it looks like she has her special, which is Bubbler!" Marie commentated. "Using that, she is guaranteed six seconds free from being splatted, which is critical in this match if used right!"

"It looks like this could be it, as Niko Cerulean and Tide Star hold off Squid Party with a combination of Range Blaster and Dynamo Roller respectfully," Callie announced. "This could be it... Yes, Orange Jam has taken the tower all the way and take the game!"

"We will take a one hour intermission," Marie declared. "During this time, we ask that both members of Purple Rain and Orange Jam coordinate and get ready for the final match! Stay fresh everyone!"

"What!?" Kai yelled in shock. "They aren't going to announce what the final game will be?"

"In that case, we need to be ready for anything," Orabelle thought out loud, looking a bit fearful. A few moments of silence passed, when suddenly they heard a groan. All four of the members of Purple Rain turned to see Squid Party coming into the locker room.

"Hey, guys," Coral said sadly.

"Hey, don't give me that face," Styx said, looking angry at her. "Take that energy and focus it on winning against Orange Jam!"

"They're good," Tai sighed, looking down at his .52 Gal Deco. "All the planning we did, and they seemed one step ahead at all times. I bet even letting us get the tower that far was in their plan... it just seemed too lucky."

"Hey, you guys did your best, that's all that matters," Orabelle said with a smile on her face.

"True, and hey with our point values we technically net third place overall," Yoki said, with a sad smile. "Which isn't bad, I guess."

"You four came in here just to wish us good luck?" Mako asked, finally speaking as he turned to them.

"Well, kinda," Umiko muttered, blushing a little.

Mako smiled at her. "I appreciate it, Umiko. I'm sorry we couldn't have fought again like we promised to back then. I was kinda hoping to face Orange Jam, but I hoped we could have faced off against you guys as well."

"Stuff happens," Tai shrugged, sighing. "Nothing we can really do about it."

"Either way, you have a chance to get your revenge on them handing you your only loss," Styx declared, giving them a thumbs up.

"We'll also pay them back for beating you guys as well," Coral said, giving a grin and thumbs up back.

"We know you can do it," Umiko cheered.

"Knock them out," Yoki smirked, before they all turned around and left Purple Rain alone in the locker rooms.

"Alright, time for a plan," Mako said, turning to them with a serious look on his face. "Since we don't know the map or type of battle we are in for, we just need to focus on deciding how we are going to deal with Orange Jam themselves. Let's analyze each team member."

"Mako, if this is too much for you..." Coral muttered in worry, knowing Mako's relationship to the members of Orange Jam.

Mako, however, shook his head. "Let's start with Brooke Ford. She wields a Tri-Slosher and is known for being deadly with it. She mostly inks turf rapidly, but if she is confronted she will always go for the disrupter, with most of the time landing a successful hint. She immediately will splat anyone she disrupts, so we need to dodge that disrupter, or we are as good as done when facing her. Only sneak up on her to splat her if you know she doesn't have her special, cause that girl will bubble if she can sense you behind her, or sees that she is in danger. Stealth is her weakness, so we need to play sneaky when it comes to her.

"The second member is Niko Cerulean, and he uses a Range Blaster. He's known for playing aggressively, usually going for splats rather then the objective. Despite being kill thirsty, he is a big problem if we don't deal with him, because of his Splash Wall and Inkstrike. He'll usually use Inkstrike to target our base and force us to make a path out of it, taking up our time. When he's in combat, he loves to put down his Splash Wall so he doesn't have to deal with being attacked back. If you're gonna attack him, you need to surprise him, or team up on him."

"Seems like stealth is key," Coral muttered, grinning.

"The girly looking guy is Tide Star, and he uses a Dynamo Roller," Mako explained. "Despite the weapon being slow, he knows how to use it, and will often just flick from a distance, and believe me he has the power to kill from the distance. Best thing to do if you see him is strife to the side and attempt to take him out. He likes to use Sprinkler in inconvenient places for us to trip us up and force us to ink turf, as well as provide his special, Echolocater, to make our presence aware to his teammates. If you get echolocated, best bet is to move in one direction till it wears off to confuse the enemy, then b-line in a different direction to take them by surprise.

"Finally, Ray Finn is a Kelp Splat Charger, and he'll be our worst nightmare unless we deal with him. He mostly just stays at a distance like any normal snipper, but trust me when I say he has a good eye. He can turn sharply and pick you off before you even know he's there, he's that fast when it comes to reaction time. He also has Sprinklers, but we really only uses them to ink turf for his special... Killer Wail. Easy to avoid, but can take us by surprise if we aren't ready for it. Best bet against him is long range attacks, like Coral's Inkzooka, or Orabelle picking him off herself. Since Orabelle has a scope on her weapon and Ray does not, she's got the better range."

"Understood," Orabelle nodded.

"We're going to need to play with stealth on our side if we want to win this," Mako stated. "And we might need to play a little dirty, but I think as long as we hold them off long enough, regardless of what type of battle it is, we will win."

"In terms of objectives, what will we do?" Coral asked.

"Before you think of that, I think it would be nice to hear the rules, no?" Callie's voice suddenly asked. Orabelle gasped and looked in awe as both Squid Sisters walked into the locker room, while Kai's jaw dropped, staring at both Squid Sisters.

"T-the Squid SIsters!?" Kai choked.

"What are you two doing in here?" Coral asked, looking confused.

"Duh, we're here to tell you about the final match," Marie said, grinning.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Mako asked, getting over his surprise really fast and once again looking serious. "I get that Coral is your co-worker, technically, but aiding her is against the rules of the league."

"Yes, it is," Callie stated. "But this isn't breaking the rules, since Orange Jam is going to find out as well."

"So sadly, we have to make this quick," Marie announced, looking serious. "Otherwise it would be unfair because you guys are already going to get more time to plan anyway."

"So what is the match going to be?" Coral asked.

"A Team Splat-Match on Flounder Heights!" Callie declared, earning confused looks from Purple Rain. "Let me explain. The goal of this competition is to get 75 splats on your opponents before you all collectively get splatted 75 times!"

"If the score of 75 is not reached before a ten minute time-limit, however, it will be the team with the most splats that wins," Marie announced.

"So the goal is to collectively splat the four members of the opposite team a grand total of 75 times, with each splat against one member increasing our score," Mako clarified.

"Yes," Callie nodded. "Any questions?"

"I think we understand the main objective," Mako answered. "Thanks."

"Well, Coral has our numbers if you think of something," Marie smiled. "We figured we'd go to you quickly because Coral has the advantage of texting us if you guys think of anything. See ya, and good luck!" They left as quickly as they came, racing off to inform Orange Jam about the match.

Kai screamed suddenly, "I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAW THE SQUID SISTERS IN PERSON!"

"Relax," Coral snapped, uncovering her ears. "You can be so annoying."

"So, seems like the snipers will probably not only contribute the most points, but additionally have the least splats as well," Mako thought out loud. "I know Orange Jam well, and I guarantee you they will make use of Ray quite a lot in this match."

"So what's the plan?" Coral asked.

"Since we only need to worry about splatting the enemy, and not any other objective, this became a lot easier," Mako declared, grinning. "So this is what we do..."

XxXxXxX

"Hello, everyone, welcome back to the squid league finals!" Callie announced to the cheers of many Inklings in the bleachers, which were located on top of the apartment buildings. "We got a special treat for you guys tonight, as both Purple Rain and Orange Jam have made it to the final round of this year's league, and will be fighting for your viewing pleasure for the championship title! They will be battling using a never before seen game type, which I affectionally like to call... Team Splat-Match!"

"Allow me to explain the rules of this so-called 'Team Splat-Match'," Marie stated. "The goal of this game is for a team to get 75 splats on their opponents before they themselves collectively get splatted 75 times. If the score of 75 is not reached before a ten minute time-limit, however, it will be the team with the most splats that wins."

"This will judge an inkling's ability to battle directly with another, without worrying about objectives," Callie stated. "A true test of skill for all members of Purple Jam and Orange Jam collectively."

"And now, let's introduce the teams!" Marie shouted, to the roar of the crowd around them.

"For this particular match, we decided that instead of choosing random opposite colors, we would let the teams be the colors in their team name," Callie announced. "So, Purple Rain, bearing the color purple, has the following members; Mako Jaws using a Tri-Slosher, Kai Wave who uses a Luna Blaster, Orabelle Bay wielding a E-Liter 3K Scope, aaaannnnnnddddd Coral Reef with a Carbon Roller!" Yelling and cheering erupted around them as Purple Rain emerged from the purple ink in the spawner.

"On Orange Jam, who will be the color orange, we have the following members," Marie announced. "Brooke Ford who also uses a Tri-Slosher, Niko Cerulean with the Range Blaster, Tide Star carrying a Dynamo Roller, aaaaannnnnnddddd Ray Finn wielding a Kelp Splat Charger!" More cheering erupted from the stands, and Coral could just imagine Orange Jam emerging from orange ink.

"Both teams, on your marks... get set... GO!" The Squid SIsters shouted.

Coral jumped from the spawner down to the grassy terrain, instantly putting her roller down and racing off. To her left, she could see Mako racing up the ramp to flank, while Orabelle and Kai both ran off to the right, attempting to gain the high ground first. Coral remained focused, running directly to the bottom before heading up the ramp to get to the middle. Once she was there, true to Mako's plan, she saw Brooke there. Coral smirked, ducking into the ink she created and dodging a disrupter, before suddenly Brooke exploded in a rain of purple, having been attacked by Mako.

"Mako successfully flanks Brooke, with Coral as the distraction!" Callie announced cheerfully. "The score is 1 to 0!"

"But Kai is in trouble," Marie announced, "He's dealing with Niko and... yes, he is splatted which makes the score even at 1 each!"

"Get Niko!" Mako yelled at Orabelle. Orabelle grinned from her ledge, and before Niko realized he was being targeted, he was snipped.

"Don't worry about what's happening to us," Mako told Coral. "Remember the plan, you-" Before Mako could finish, however, they were suddenly both splatted by Tide, who had approached them when they weren't looking.

"It's 2 to 3 now, Orange Jam in the lead," Callie announced.

"It's still too early to tell who will win," Marie declared. "And the way I've seen both these teams play, it could be anyone's game."

Coral charged forward once she spawned, instantly heading towards the middle again. Once she got there, she noticed Tide fighting Kai, who was dodging his flicks, unable to get close to him. With a quick flick, Coral emerged from behind and splatted him, saving Kai from being defeated. Kai charged ahead, attempting to gain ground into their base, but he didn't get far before being picked off by Ray, who was standing above him. He then set his mark on Coral, but was taken care off by Orabelle before he could attack. Coral then dodged swiftly to the left, as Brooke had come for revenge, bubbling instantly. Coral backed off, retreating for now because of the bubbler.

"4 to 4, still anyone's game," Marie declared.

"This is going to be a tense match," Callie said, her voice indicating she was on edge watching this match.

Seven minutes into the match, and Coral could tell why the league decided this should be the game for the final match. Coral was using every ounce of skill she had to defeat her opponents, each side not worrying about anything else other then how many times they could splat the opponent. Despite dealing with try-hard players before who only went for splats, it would only be one or two per map. Now, with everyone having that goal, it made the match intense and stressful, forcing them to be on edge more then usual, and testing their skills at dealing with direct battles.

"66 to 66," Callie announced, her voice on edge much more now.

"This has been quite a match," Marie announced, also on edge. "Neither team is pulling too far ahead, and it is impossible to tell who will win, despite being this late into the match!"

"Three minutes left on the clock," Callie declared. "Uh, we didn't decide what to do if they end up in a tie, did we?"

"If we have to, get ahead in score, and then just dodge and avoid getting splatted," Mako declared, charging for Brooke, however he got distracted, and ended up getting splatted instead.

"67 to 68!" Marie declared.

"Take this!" Coral shouted, splatting Brooke, however Tide quickly picked her off, before he was splatted by Orabelle.

"69 to 69!" Callie announced, as a few Inklings in the crowd snorted.

Kai ducked into the ink and swam up onto the high ground. He waited for a few seconds before Ray returned to reclaim his snipping spot. Kai picked him off, but didn't count on Niko following him, and was splatted instantly.

"70 to 70!"

"This is nuts," Mako growled. "We can't get ahead!"

"Then what do we do?" Coral asked, irritated as she hid. "Everytime we try and pull ahead, we either stay in a tie, or they get a point ahead. We haven't once passed them in points except for the beginning of the match, and if they five more kills-!" As she said that, Mako and Brooke both ran into each other, and true to her word, instantly tied with one another, bringing the score to 71 even. "...four more kills..."

"Which is why we need to surprise them somehow," Orabelle thought out loud.

"How?" Kai asked, confused. "They already can predict sneak attacks, and tie with us."

Mako thought for a moment, before thinking up something. "We need to gather them in one place and take them out at once... Orabelle and Kai, draw them into their base, Coral and I are going to ink turf to charge our specials! We've only got a minute, so make every move count!"

"On it!" They both shouted, charging forward. Kai quickly found Niko and Brooke, and shot at them to draw their attention before retreating, the two orange inklings following close behind. Orabelle, meanwhile, missed a shot on purpose to draw Ray to her, as well as alert Tide of her location. Shortly after, they met up in the middle, where they were overwhelmed by the appearance of all four members of Orange Jam and quickly splatted.

"71 to 73, Orange Jam takes the largest lead seen in this match so far!" Callie declared.

"This could be it," Marie stated. "All members of Orange Jam are gathered together, and Mako and Coral are heading towards them! Plus there is only ten seconds left!"

Coral and Mako charged forward, inking turf as they approached. All four members of Orange Jam were standing there, weapons at the ready. Ray tried to snipe Coral, who dodged swiftly to the left, inkling a bit more turf as they got into range of all of them.

"Five seconds!" Marie yelled in a panic.

"It's over," Brooke shouted, trusting her bucket forward, attempting to hit them both as once. Ray, Tide and Niko also attacked, a massive sea of orange ink heading towards both Coral and Mako. However, to their surprise, Mako's special suddenly became ready, and Mako activated it, surrounding him and Coral both in a bubble just as the ink hit them. They were sent flying back due to the orange ink colliding with the bubble, but as they were, Coral's special suddenly became active as well.

"Two seconds!" Callie shouted.

"TAKE THIS!" Coral screamed, pulling out her Inkzooka. Before Orange Jam could react, Coral pulled on the trigger, and a tornado of purple ink flew across the field, sweaping all of Orange Jam into it, splatting all four of them at once.

"75 to 73, with zero seconds on the clock!" Callie declared, standing up. "We have a winner! In a sudden come back, with Coral splatting all four members of Orange Jam at the same time, Purple Rain takes the win!"

"That was quite a victory," Marie said, sighing in relief that it was over. "One for the record books if I do say so myself."

"It looked as though Purple Rain was going to lose, but thanks to the timing of their specials activating, they were able to take the win!"

"Everyone, give a huge round of applause to this year's Squid League Champions, Purple Rain!"

Coral couldn't help but smile as she yelled in happiness at the top of her lungs. Suddenly, she was swept off her feet and lifted into the air by Mako and Kai, who were also screaming loudly. She was put down only to be grabbed by Orabelle, who was crying tears of joy as she hugged Coral.

"We won!" Orabelle screamed. "We won!"

"Congratulations," a voice Coral recognized said. She turned to her left as her team pulled away from her to see Orange Jam standing there. Brooke was in front, looking at them all with interest. Behind her was Niko, Tide and Ray, who were all looking over Purple Rain with interest.

"Gotta admit, I didn't expect you to gather us all up in the end," Niko sighed, shaking his head, though he wore a smile on his face. "You really played us there."

"You're especially good with an Inkzooka," Tide said, in a rather high pitched voice for a boy, farther emphasizing his girliness. "Didn't expect you to get us all like that."

"Even if she only got three of us, they still would've won," Ray said, grinning. "Still, a roller dodging my sniper shot? That almost never happens."

Coral appreciated the phrase, but frowned as she remembered who these guys were. "I take the complements, but maybe you guys should finally apologize to Mako."

"For what?" Niko asked, raising an eyebrow, before suddenly realizing. "Oh, I guess you know..."

"...only half of the story." Brooke finished, glaring a little.

"Wha?" all four members of Purple Rain said, looking at Brooke.

"Dude, we weren't trying to steal your girl like you always say we were," Tide said, shrugging. "You disappeared shortly after breaking up with Brooke out of the blue, and we thought it would be good to support her."

"We decided to get you two back together, so Niko decided to take off of the team and be replaced with Brooke, that way you two would be on the same team." Ray explained.

"Wait, so the entire time..." Mako muttered, looking shocked.

"Yeah, I was gonna just sit out of our team, man," Niko explained, shaking his head. "But the second you saw Brooke on the team, you bolted bro, assuming your spot was taken. Had you scrolled down, you would've seen I wasn't on the team anymore and that you were still there... well, until you made Purple Rain that is, then I guess I got my spot back."

"Yeah, our little 'get them back together plan' had its flaws," Ray admitted, shrugging. "But come on, dude. You broke up with her for dumb reasons."

"But-" Mako started to say.

"Zip it," Brooke said, glaring as she stormed up to him. "You don't think you deserve me? Bull-shrimp! Just because I am a model on the side, doesn't mean that someone like you doesn't deserve me. You always talk about how you don't have the best looks... well, that doesn't mean squat! You're funny, kind, and a good friend... and now you're a champion."

Silence filled the air. Kai, Coral and Orabelle were all looking at the scene before them, stunned with what has happened. Tide, Ray and Niko were also watching, but with looks on their faces like they were just about to scream 'get back together already'.

"So, we're..." Mako breathed in shock.

"Oh, just kiss me, damn you!" Brooke hissed, pulling Mako in and connecting her lips to his, closing her eyes. Mako's eyes widened at first, but he closed them and began kissing her back. Cheers erupted from the stands, and through the screaming Inklings, Coral could make out Callie's voice.

"Well, all's well that ends well!" Callie cheered, clapping herself. "Purple Rain wins and we got to see a broken couple repair themselves."

"I'm telling you," Marie said, also clapping and smiling. "This match defiantly will go down in history."

Coral blinked, but eventually she too smiled and clapped for Mako and Brooke. Despite her developing feelings for her teammate, this was probably for the best. After all, Mako had no clue what she was, and despite everything that had been though together, she still wasn't ready to tell Orabelle and Mako about her secret.


	8. Operation Dissolve

**Man, this took way longer to get out then it should have. You think spending most of my time job hunting would leave me tons of time for writing... I've just been lazy mostly.**

 **As always, big thanks to The King of Emerald for being my Beta Reader. And thank you everyone who has read this story. It means a lot to me that people favorite, review and check out my work. This, additionally, is the third to last chapter of this story, however there will be a sequel taking place in Splatoon 2, so be on the lookout for that.  
**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The night sky was bright and filled with stars, illuminating the kitchen and living room of the apartment rented by General Bay, who was currently still awake and looking through a box. Inside was several agent uniforms provided to him by Captain Cuddlefish during his service, though some were extras of various sizes that he took for nostalgic reasons. A badge from his time as General was pinned on a military standard hat, shining against the moonlight pouring into the window. He smirked looking at the hat before moving it out of the way, his eyes widening at what was below.

A image in a frame showed him, Captain Cuddlefish, a younger Orabelle and a woman holding her. This Inkling had a very unique Apricot coloring on her tenticles, which were tied into a bun. Other then her coloring, however, she looked very similar to Orabelle, just a bit older. General Bay stared at this picture for what seemed like an eternity, before taking it out of the box and placing it on the coffee table, muttering to himself, "Why was that in there?"

Suddenly, his body became very tense. His eyes narrowed as he looked over at the window, his hand trembling a little. "Who's there?" he demanded, carefully treading over to where his sniper rifle was, grabbing it, no longer trembling with the weapon in hand. He pointed it at the window, his aim true, and once again demanded the identity of the noise that caused him to tense up.

It happened almost instantly. General Bay felt two pairs of hands grab him as he began his struggle, fighting with all his might, but age had taken it's toll as he was unable to shake off the intruders. Looking over his shoulder, he just managed to see a black octopus tentacle before a bag was thrown over his head. Kicking wildly, he felt his foot connect with various objects as his struggles increased, but it was in vain before he felt a sharp blow to his head, and fell into the darkness.

"Dad?" a voice from the other room asked. The two Octolings heard a bed creak, and only knew they had seconds. With fierce agility, they dashed to either side of the door and as soon as it open, one of them emerged into the room, a cry of surprise was heard, and after a few seconds a thud indicated that a body had fallen to the floor. The Octoling holding General Bay's limp body peaked into the room, seeing her partner standing before a knocked out Inkling, though no sign of a struggle other then ruffled clothing, indicating a sleeper hold was used.

"I didn't know he had a brat," muttered the Octoling in the room.

"Leave her," the Octoling holding General Bay hissed. "We got what we came here for, and chances are by the time she is able to alert anyone who could stop us, it would be too late."

"Then, phase one of Operation Dissolve, is complete."

XxXxXxX

It had been about two weeks since the Squid Leagues had completed, and for the most part the fame that came from winning one of the biggest events in Inkopolis history had died during the time. Coral would still get recognized form time to time as the Carbon Roller from Purple Rain, but it was only on occasion, and slowly but surely, it had returned to Inklings from time to time looking at her funny for her unique purple eye markings and red iris color. It just seemed like every Inkling had temporary amnesia or something, that or it was true that sport fame was only a thing when the event was occurring. Now that it was over, Inklings seemed to go back to other things, which mostly now included what the new, currently under construction Inkopolis Square would have, or what Sheldon was planning on building, as he seemed very busy when Inklings would enter his store, and wouldn't tell anyone what he was working on. New fashion was emerging, and some Inklings were quick to rush out and buy new outfits, while some like Coral herself were still wearing the same clothes for now.

"Morning, cuz," Kai muttered, greeting her as she approached the table. "Don't forget, since mom and uncle went out of town, I'm in charge."

"They didn't leave you in charge," Coral hissed, but knew that Kai was only saying what he said to get a raise out of her, and only rolled her eyes in response instead of following it up farther.

"That's it?" Kai asked, looking at her in confusion as she poured a bowl of cereal in the kitchen. "No witty remarks about how immature I am so technically you should be in charge?"

"Nah," Coral replied, taking a big spoonful and shoving it into her mouth. "Besides, you said it so I don't have to."

"Ouch," Kai replied, but smirked all the same. "Well, you got me there. So, what's on the agenda for today? Since we don't have anything really going on, I was thinking of going down to the plaza and seeing if I can get lucky."

"If you meet a girl, which you won't," Coral told him, earning a frown from her cousin. "You aren't allowed to bring her back here."

"Party killer," Kai sighed, shrugging. "How about you?"

"I was thinking of just relaxing here," Coral shrugged, still taking large bites.

"Why?" Kai asked, startled. "You're just gonna be a couch potato like you usually are? No plans to hangout with Mako or Orabelle, or even anyone else we know?"

Coral shook her head, lifting the bowl to her mouth to finish the last of her meal before speaking. "I just need a chill day, ya know?"

"Alright, alright," Kai said, heading towards the door. "See ya, then."

But just before he opened the door, a loud, urgent sounding knock echoed off of it. Kai and Coral looked at one another confused before opening the door, revealing a panting Orabelle outside, hands on her knees and looking right down, hiding her eyes.

"I think you can forget the chill day," Kai muttered.

"Are you alright, Orabelle?" Coral asked, heading to the door.

Orabelle looked up, tears streaming from her eyes. "M-my dad... he's gone!" Silence followed that before Coral and Kai instantly realized the severity of the situation. As fast as the two could, they grabbed their weapons, locked the door behind them, and raced after Orabelle back towards her apartment. Just before they left, Coral texted Mako with only three words: _S.O.S, Orabelle's Place_

XxXxXxX

The scene that met them when they entered the apartment wasn't a pretty one. Almost every piece of furniture in the place other then very heavy pieces like the couch were toppled over, a single window was open with scuffs on it, as though someone forced it open from the outside and was in the hurry to enter and leave. Coral and Kai were on edge, holding their weapons at the ready as they looked around the place. The only rooms unaffected were Orabelles and General Bay's bedroom, the former only showing signs of an unkept bed and someone lying on the floor.

"I came as fast as I could," Mako's voice was heard from the living room. "Whoa, what happened?"

"W-we were attacked," Orabelle explained through her tears. "They took my dad!"

"Who did?" Kai asked, looking confused. "Who would do this?"

"They didn't look like us completely," Orabelle explained. "Well, they had arms and legs, so they weren't jellyfish or something like that... but they had weird shaped, black tentacles with a rounded appearance, and round sucker looking things.

Kai and Coral's eyes instantly became wide. "Octolings."

"Pardon?" Orabelle hiccuped from her tears, before thinking about it. "I-I guess they could've been. I've never seen one so..."

Coral though for a minute before heading towards the living room and pulling out a piece of paper from the toppled over printer, digging around for a pen, and drawing a very rough version of an Octoling tentacle. "Their tentacles looked like this?"

"Yeah, very similar to that," Orabelle explained. "But h-how did you know what an Octoling looks like?"

Coral didn't answer, standing up instantly and facing towards the door, a determined look on her face. "If that is the case, I'll go into Octo-vally and get him back!"

"W-what?" Orabelle stuttered, rushing forward and grabbing Coral's arm. "No, we should alert Captain Cuddlefish!"

"It might be too late by then," Coral firmly replied. "My dad is out of town, and I dunno if this Agent 3 is available either. The best course of action I can take is to go on my own."

"Why?" Mako asked, seriousness radiating off his voice. "You shouldn't play the hero here."

"I'm not," Coral hissed at him, glaring. "But I hold some responsibility for this as well."

"That's bullshit," Mako retorted. "What connection could you have with them?"

"Nothing you need to know," Coral replied, her voice reeking of irritation. "Just let me go."

"No!" Orabelle shouted, no longer crying. "We're coming with you!"

"You don't have to lie to us to justify you going alone," Mako angrily stated.

"I'm not lying!" Coral snapped, glaring at him.

"Then what possible damn connection could you have to Octolings!?" Mako yelled.

Coral's rage finally reached a boil. She turned, and red in the face, screamed out. "I'm half-Octoling dammit!"

Silence filled the room. Kai looked embarrassed, muttering something along the lines of being glad no other Inklings then them seemed to be at this apartment complex. Orabelle and Mako were both stunned, eyes wide, staring at Coral. Orabelle finally spoke, "Y-you're what?"

"Half-Octoling," Coral sadly muttered, pulling out a golden square thin box. She opened it with a 4-digit combo, revealing it to be a lockable picture frame. Inside was a picture of Toru, Octola and a baby squid that was Coral. Orabelle and Mako looked at the picture in silence, eyes still wide. Coral sighed, looking down, "That is my dad and... my mom. She's an Octoling, as you can see..."

"I... I though those purple markings on your eyes were just a mutation or something," Mako replied.

"No, they're from my Octoling genes," Coral muttered, closing the picture and putting it back into her pocket. "But this is why I need to go alone. Since I am half-Octoling, I have a better chance as surviving."

"And if you're wrong, and they kill you on sight?" Mako asked.

Coral remained silent for a minute before sighing, "Then I die. Simple as that. An abomination like me shouldn't exist anyway."

"I don't think so," Orabelle firmly stated. "Look, you maybe half-Octoling, but you're still a citizen of Inkopolis, and my friend."

"You still want to be friends with me after knowing what I really am?" Coral asked, shocked.

"Of course!" Orabelle stated, hurt that Coral would think her heritage would change that. "It doesn't matter to me that you're a hybrid! What matters is who you are as an individual. You're my best friend, and nothing will change that! And that is why I can't let you go alone... I'm coming with you!"

"But..." Coral was about to say.

"Stop fighting it," Mako suggested, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter to me that you are half-Octoling either, and thus I am coming with you as well."

"Count me in too," Kai stated, looking firmly at Coral. "Our parents always told us to never go into Octo-Valley, but they aren't around right now to stop us, and we got to save General Bay!"

"First, we need outfits," Orabelle said, walking over to the old box still on the floor, and pulling out the yellow and black uniforms inside. "Dad always kept spares and I am glad he did. There should be enough to match each of us to a certain size."

"But..." Coral once again started.

"Zip it," Kai suggested. "You aren't changing their minds."

"Coral, I don't care how dangerous it is," Mako said, having just pulled on a uniform. "Plus this makes me look hot!"

"You're an idiot," Coral muttered, but she smirked determined all the same. "Alright, fine. Let's do this!"

Orabelle smiled back at her, tossing her a uniform as well. She looked back into the box and frowned. "There's only a few pairs of old equipment in here... lucky for us they're all fitted with radios. I think Kai and I should take these ear pieces, and Coral and Mako should take the goggles. Since these goggles are adapted with scanners and sensors, they should aid you in close range combat. Plus, they can hide Coral's face just in case we do run into Octolings and they can recognize her..."

Coral slipped on the goggles, which completely hid her eyes and markings, turning them on to see her vision was mostly red with some numbers on screen, telling her life around her. When she faced the other way, she could see arrows pointing to her left and right, telling her life was behind her. "Nifty!"

"I'm probably only turning these on if I need to," Mako said, pulling his off his eyes and putting them on his head. "It's a little disorienting..."

"I think they're badass," Coral grinned.

"Anyway, we wasted enough time," Kai warned them. "Let's move!"

XxXxXxX

General Bay moaned in pain as his eyes opened. The first thing he noticed was that he was in a cell, complete with bars that he had never seen before. There was no bed, sink, or anything within the cell, only an empty room. General Bay ran up to the bars and turned into the squid form, but he was surprised that he couldn't phase through the gap, despite being mostly liquid in the form he took.

"Specially designed cell," an Octoling said, walking up to the bars, smirking as she looked down at the squid. "Nice try, but we're not that dumb, Inkling."

General Bay turned back to normal instantly, standing up. He was just barely eye-level with the Octoling. "Where am I? Why did you take me here?"

"Octo-Valley," the Octoling replied, grinning, revealing her sharp teeth. "As for the why, you're gonna help us with a little experiment we've been conducting. Shouldn't hurt... much."

"Am I the only one you took?" General Bay asked, attempting to hid the panic in his voice, but he must've failed because the Octoling laughed a bit.

"You must be taking about that brat," she replied, earning a shocked look.

"I swear if you even touch her, I-"

"Relax, she ain't here," the Octoling sighed. "I did knock her out with a sleeper hold though, so I guess your threat still applies. Alas, not much she can do. This facility is unknown to even some of the Elite Octolings, including the commanders. Even if she goes to your so called Captain, he won't be able to get Agent 3 out here in time."

"You said I am here for an experiment," General Bay muttered, looking sternly at the enemy. "What sort of experiment."

This is where his adversary grinned the widest, as she looked at him with a insane look. "A way to make sure those respawners of yours fail to work... specialized ink that will instantly Take. You. Down!"

"Impossible!"

"You'll find out for yourself soon," she laughed and began walking away. "Will you respawn, or find yourself nothing more then a puddle! Oh, I can't WAIT for the results, and to get rid of you and any other Inkling that stands in our way once and for all!"

XxXxXxX

"This place is a wasteland!" Mako gasped, looking around. The four of them were standing in a dirt field with several mountains surrounding them. In the distance, floating metallic structures could be seen, which occasionally groaned as if threatening to fall on them any second. Orabelle looked down at the spawner they were standing on, and touched it, activating it instantly. At once, Purple Rain took on a yellow color, the same one of the spawner.

"I activated the spawner just in case..." Orabelle muttered, looking down at it. "It looks like it's been here forever... I guess the military uses it for missions."

"Thanks, but if we're out of range it'll fail to work," Mako replied, sighing. "Let's just hope we find another one should we wonder too far."

"Let's start heading that way," Coral said, pointing towards once of the metallic structures. "I bet you if anything they would house General Bay in something like that."

"Then let's move," Kai replied, and began heading in the direction of the structure. Unknown to them, however, they were already being watched. Standing on top of said structure that they had pointed to were three tentacle looking creatures, both of them fiercely watching the area.

"I swear, I saw a yellow flash!" one of them stated, pointing with his head. "Over there!"

"Maybe you imagined it?" a second one declared, rolling his eyes. "There's no way they sent an agent down here already!"

"Hey, shut it!" the third one spoke, looking through a telescope. "Yeah I see four Inklings heading this way."

"Four!?" the first one gasped, groaning in agony. "So they're sending all three numbered agents plus that older agent... what was his name, Agent Blue or something like that?"

"Those aren't agents..." The third one said, watching the figures. "I've never seen them before."

"Regardless, we have orders," the second one replied, grinning as he pulled out a vial of bubbling, fuchsia ink.

"Whoa, where did you get that!" the first one gasped, backing away a bit.

"Stole it from the facility," the second one grinned, loading it into a sniper rifle. "Was hoping I could do a little test of my own."

"You're gonna get in so much trouble if any of the Octolings found out you took that!" the third one warned.

"So what!? I'm tired of those Octolings getting all the important roles! Just because they can take a humanoid form and we can't, we're forced to the grunt work! Well, no more! I'll test this experiment myself and then I'll get the credit!"

"Or you'll be killed, but ok..."

The snipping Octarian glared before aiming through the scope. "I think that cyan colored Inkling will be the perfect target... she's a sniper too so taking her out will make the others easy pickings..."

Some distance away, Coral and her friends were approaching the structure, when suddenly Coral halted, her goggles alerting her to something. The others stopped, looking at her concerned.

"What is it Coral?" Orabelle asked.

"Get down!" Coral screamed, suddenly moving and pushing Orabelle. A sudden shot echoed in the air as Orabelle was shoved away, falling to the ground. Intense pain shot through Coral's cheek, as she collapsed and yelled in agony, hitting the ground. Orabelle instantly realized where the shot came from and before even a second had passed, had fired a shot at the structure, forcing the Octarians up there to move. In the blink of an eye, Mako and Kai and dashed up the ramp and were behind the Octarians, spatting them instantly.

"Coral, are you ok!?" Orabelle shouted in panic, staring at Coral. The hybrid was holding her left cheek, and when Orabelle puled off Coral's goggles, she could see Coral had tears streaming down her face. "Coral?"

"If it was just ink, it shouldn't hurt that much..." Kai muttered.

Orabelle sensed that something was wrong, however. "Coral... move your hand."

The hybrid obeyed, and they all gasped. Across Coral's left cheekbone was a nasty gash, as though she was grazed by a burning hot knife. Coral covered the wound with her hand again, crying out in pain. Orabelle held her close, and Kai bent down concerned, taking off his back pack. "Ok, hold on, I might have something in the first aid kit!"

Mako, however, looked towards a fuchsia puddle of ink that was behind Coral. He walked up to it, to see the puddle bubbling a bit. With careful movements, Mako picked up a stray leaf and through it into the ink, only for it to disappear in a mix of pinkish steam. "...this isn't normal ink."

XxXxXxX

"Acidic Ink?" the voice of Captain Cuddlefish asked.

A red Inkling dressed in Octoling gear nodded, holding up a radio. "Affirmative, Captain. Seems as though the Octolings are experimenting with mixing jellyfish venom into their own ink, therefore creating a mixture that resembles acid." He looked down at a knocked out Octoling, shaking his head. "I'm guessing they were planning on using it to make sure they can kill any Inkling they come across, regardless of spawn point."

"That... isn't good at all," Cuddlefish said through the radio. "Agent 3, respond in kind! Destroy all the ink samples they have!"

"Already on it, cap." Agent 3 reported, and instantly got to work. He grabbed vial after vial and shattered them on a grate, causing the ink to pass through it into water that was located below. As he made progress, though, an uneasy feeling filled him. Why did he feel as though something else was amiss?

"Agent 3, I just received a report from Inkopolis' officials," Captain Cuddlefish said though the radio. "Agent Cyan is missing! Additionally, a spawner activated not too long ago... no other agents should be down here, so I think his daughter is going after him!"

"Should I give chase immediately?" Agent 3 asked.

"No, destroying the vials takes priority right now, and Agent Cyan would agree." Captain Cuddlefish ordered. "I will try and get in touch with other agents, but I doubt I will be able to. When you are done, I want you to head to the active spawner and track her from there."

"Understood, I will do my best to hurry."


	9. The Rescue Operation

**Well, this took some time to get out, but thanks to a family trip to Michigan, I managed to crack down and finish this chapter. The hype for Splatoon 2 is real, you guys, like to the point where I want to fall into a coma until the 15th for the Splatfest, and again until the release date.**

 **Thanks to The King of Emerald for being my Beta Reader, and thanks to everyone who reads the story. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Well, that is probably going to scar... so much for keeping this from mom and Uncle Toru."

Coral sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes as she stood up. She ran a finger across her wound, but gasped in pain as the burning sensation increased just from her touch alone. Coral sighed, picking up her goggles and looking into the lenses, her reflection looking back at her. "Wow, that does look nasty."

"It makes you look like a weird mixture of bad ass but scary," Kai admitted, looking directly at the gash.

"Are you alright?" Orabelle asked, her hand on Coral's shoulder.

"It burns a kelp ton," Coral admitted, before pulling her goggles back onto her head and over her eyes. "But I'll be ok... I'm just glad that weird ink didn't hit you."

"Thank you," Orabelle said, bowing. "I owe you my life."

Coral blushed a little in embarrassment. "No no, it's ok. You would've done the same for me."

Mako walked back over, holding his bucket firmly. "Those weren't Octolings that were shooting at us... what were they?"

"A lesser form, known as Octarians," Coral explained. "Some of the octo-species cannot transform into humanoid forms, thus they do not get the name Octoling. For some reason, I've only seen female Octolings, though I believe male Octolings do exist."

"Either way, the enemy knows we are here," Kai stated, holding his Luna Blaster in front of him, looking around carefully. "And if all of them are armed with that weird ink, then we really could be killed out here."

Orabelle looked down, thinking to herself for a moment. "Maybe we should-"

"Go home? Fat chance," Coral grinned, pointing her thumb at her wound. "This is nothing, and as long as we keep an eye out, we should be fine."

"Coral's right," Mako agreed. "I'm not going to give up just yet on finding your dad. Besides, once we knew they were there, they didn't stand a chance against us! We just need to be more aware of our surroundings from now on."

"Alright... thank you guys," Orabelle said, smiling and getting her E-Liter ready. "Let's go find my dad!"

The four teens trekked on into the structure that they had been heading to before, each one of them with their weapon at the ready just in case they were attacked again, though nothing but silence greeted them as they continued walking, eventually finding another spawner, which Orabelle activated, thought their color remained the same.

"There's nothing here," Coral noted. "Let's see where we should go from here."

"Hold on," Kai suddenly said, holding out his hand. "I heard something."

Coral blinked, looking around, though her goggles weren't picking up on any other life forms besides them. She frowned, adjusting them a little to extend the range before gasping. Someone was with then, watching them from a distance.

"There!" Coral gasped, pointing to where the figure was.

Mako turned the switch on his goggles as well, looking where Coral pointed. "Yes, I see a- Hey! They're moving!"

"They're fast," Coral hissed, looking to her right. "Now they are over there!"

"They're heading this way!" Mako shouted, but it was too late. Suddenly, he and Kai gasped in shock as they were grabbed from behind, and one swift motion later, both of them feel to the ground, knocked out. Orabelle fired at the figure, but they ducked and rushed Orabelle, who screamed in shock before getting knocked away, her E-Liter snapped in half like a twig on the ground where she once stood. Coral gasped, now seeing the figure properly.

She wore standard Octoling gear, complete with a black jumpsuit, and bits of silver armor on the chest and other various areas. She wore a pair of Octoling goggles, which glowed purple where the pupils would be on her eyes. Her messy, purple tentacles flared a little in fury, as she turned swiftly to look at Coral, holding a Splat Roller in her hand.

"Inklings, here?" the Octoling said, raising an eyebrow. "You are awfully young, and certainly not any of the active agents... explain yourselves!"

 _Mom? No, that is impossible. Mom is gone..._ Coral thought, before glaring at the Octoling, despite her eyes and markings were invisible to the Octoling through the Agent Goggles. "We are here for General Bay! We know you kidnapped him, so hand him over!"

"General Bay?" the Octoling whispered, thinking. "I have heard no such order to kidnap an Inkling by that name, or any other Inkling at all come to think of it. Now, I must urge you to leave Octo-Valley, before I have to strike to kill."

Coral paused, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you insist on letting us go?"

"If my daughter was still alive, she would be around your age," the Octoling whispered. "I do not wish to take a child away from their mother... I know that pain too well."

"Sorry to say it, but my mother died years ago," Coral explained, raising her roller at the ready. "And like you, I would rather not allow a child to be separated from their parent... I'm getting General Bay back, even if I have to fight you!"

"You are brave, Inkling," the Octoling hissed, raising the Splat Roller. "But foolish as well. I disabled two of your friends and disarmed the other. You will be facing me alone." Suddenly, she turned sharply around, pointing her weapon towards Orabelle, who was trying to sneak towards Kai and Mako. "Do not move. Your friends are fine, I only knocked them out. Once I deal with your friend, I will offer you the same opportunity to flee with your remaining friends. Should you value your life, you will stay where you are until then."

Coral hissed a little, and began circling with the Octoling, both of them walking in rhythm, keeping equal distance from the other. Coral was eyeing the Splat Roller, finding it weird that an Octoling would be wielding one. "Where did you get that roller?"

"It is none of your concern," the Octoling hissed. "But you will find that we Octolings are adding more weapons then just this to our arsenal. Enough talk, en garde, Inkling!" Suddenly, she flung ink at Coral with speed so fast, that Coral only just dodged in time. Coral flicked her own ink at her opponent, yellow raining down on the field covering the fushia, but the Octoling avoided her shot as well, before racing forward and trying to get Coral at point blank range. The two danced around one another, a sea of fushia raining down before a sea of yellow would cover it, and vice versa. Orabelle remained frozen in place, stunned. The Octoling was a superior fighter, that much was clear, but Coral was holding her own very well, against her foe, instant and gut guiding her.

The Octoling suddenly roared in fury, and suddenly Coral's Carbon Roller flew into the air and hit the ground. Coral tried to rush towards the weapon, but had to duck behind a metal beam at the last second to avoid a wave of ink.

"Surrender, and I will let you live!" the Octoling hissed, her left hand now holding Coral's roller. "Just say that you surrender, and I will allow you to gather up your friends and leave the valley without trouble. You got a minute Inkling. If you do not comply before then, I will strike to kill."

Coral was breathing heavily, her mind racing. She was outmatched completely, and despite being able to hold her own against this Octoling for some time, she had superior stamina and skills in battle. Coral hissed, taking off her glove and punching the ground before hissing in pain. She looked over to see her hand landed in the Octoling ink splattered before. Coral stared at the ink, her brain begging for the pain to stop, but something within Coral was just curious about the ink her hand was in. She was half-Octoling after all, if only there was someway she could resist Octoling ink and call upon those genes.

It was as if a switch was flicked. The pain suddenly got more intense, but Coral couldn't move her hand, as if he was being held there by some mysterious force. Suddenly, the pain stopped, and Coral looked at her reflection in the ink gasping in shock. Her tentacles had taken on a black color, and almost looked more rounded then normal, and the Octoling ink no longer hurt her. It was as if she suddenly changed her own body to use Octoling ink instead of Inkling ink. Her mind on overdrive, Coral placed her other hand into her former yellow ink, and almost had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming at the sharp burn.

 _I see,_ Coral thought to herself. _By touching Octoling ink and absorbing it, I can somehow change my own ink properties to Octoling ink instead of Inkling ink, in exchange for making Inkling ink extremely effective against me... more so then different colored ink usually does, at least._

"You still will not surrender?" the Octoling asked from behind her. "Then die!"

A bomb suddenly landed next to her, but Coral only smirked. The bomb exploded, and ink covered her, but Coral's body didn't flinch at all, as if she was in Turf War and her own teammate had shot at her. She could hear Orabelle's scream of sorrow, and the Octoling sigh in regret. It was her chance! Using the purple ink for cover, Coral shifted into her squid from and dashed through it, jumping out just behind the Octoling. Orabelle gasped, the Octoling turned, and Coral's fist flew through the air, connecting with the Octoling's face, sending her flying into the ink, and shattering her goggles. Both rollers hit the ground, and Coral pinned the Octoling down, who turned to look at Coral, causing her to gasp.

Piercing red eyes stared back at her, surrounded by purple Octoling markings. It was as if an older, pure-Octoling version of Coral was lying there, pinned by the hybrid. Octola let out a grunt, as she tried to struggle out of her daughter's grip, but to no avail. "How?" Octola muttered, looking at Coral with interest. "How can you resist my ink? You can't be..."

Coral let go, standing up and allowing her mother to stand. Tears were streaming from Coral's eyes again, but she managed to get out what she wanted to say before her voice was lost beneath her crying. "I guess... being a hybrid has one advantage to it, huh Mom..." Coral pulled off her goggles, revealing her face.

"Coral!" Octola screamed, pulling her daughter into a sudden hug, one which Coral returned, dissolving completely into tears. The hug seemed to last a life time, the mother and daughter, each one thinking the other had been killed by the actions of Octavio, were finally reunited at last.

"OH SHRIMP, I ALMOST KILLED MY BABY!" Octola suddenly screamed, holding Coral at arm's length and looking over her. "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you too badly, did I? Where did you get that scar!?"

"Mom, I'm ok..." Coral sniffled, wiping her eyes. "You're tough, but I can handle myself. As for the scar, your friends back there weren't too kind to us."

Octola looked confused at first, before narrowing her eyes as she looked at Coral's new scar. "Did they actually go through with that plan?"

Kai groaned from behind them, blinking as he looked up at the two of them. "Aunt Octola?"

"Hello, Kai. I am so sorry I knocked you out!" Octola embarrassingly apologized.

"We're going to need an explanation," Mako bluntly stated, looking at Coral and Octola.

XxXxXxX

Coral found transforming back to normal could be done by focusing on restoring her original Inkling ink, though it was just as painful as absorbing Octoling ink to take on an Octoling like form. She vowed to herself not to use the transformation again unless her life was in danger by other Octarians, not that she really could, with her needing upwards of ten seconds to even take on her so called Octoling-form and her needing fresh Octarian ink in the first place.

"You said you didn't know about General Bay," Orabelle said to Octola, once Kai and Mako were brought up to speed, and Octola was told where Coral got her scar. "Also, it's... nice to meet you. Sorry I shot at you."

"I'm sorry I broke your weapon," Octola sighed, shaking her head. "But no, I don't know about your dad or his kidnapping... but if you kids say he's down here, then I have no reason to doubt you."

"Only reason she's not doubting us is because of Coral," Mako whispered to Orabelle.

"That's because Coral is family," Orabelle hissed back.

"Aunt Octola, is there anyway to find out where Orabelle's dad is being held?" Kai asked.

"I am surprised that I haven't heard of this before hand," Octola muttered. "They must be keeping me out of the loop more then ever now... but yes, I should be able to find his holding place."

"Out of the loop?" Coral asked, now a yellow Inkling color once again. "Mom... I'm surprised that Octavio didn't..."

"Kill me?" Octola said grimly. "Same here. Upon returning to the valley, I was immediately captured and held in a cell. Octavio personally visited me sometime later, telling me that... that everyone at the cabin was killed by Octoling agents."

"We survived thanks to Aunt Taki's bubbler," Coral explained. "Afterwards, we lived in Teal Bay until moving to Inkopolis about a year ago."

"Smart woman, that Taki," Octola smirked. "Anyway, Octavio told me I had two choices: I could accept my death, or work off my 'debt' to the Octolings for my betrayal. That is when I made up my mind. If I could secretly help other Octolings accept Inklings, maybe even work on getting Octolings to merge with Inkling society, then I would do what I could. I swore my loyalty to Octavio, while promising that any Octoling I could find that questioned our motives, I would help. Of course, I still need to prevent Inklings from being down here, or else Octavio would find it suspicious."

"It must've come with some consequences, though," Kai stated. "Octavio can't just trust you again after that just out of the blue."

"I've been held back from doing certain missions and actions," Octola admitted, now on her Octo-Phone and tapping the screen wildly. "I was kept out of the Operation Dissolve, for example."

"Operation Dissolve?" the four teenagers asked at the same time.

"The acid ink Coral was struck with..." Octola flinched at the thought of her daughter getting hit by the acid ink, but continued. "Is very dangerous. It is created by fusing together Octoling ink with Jellyfish venom enhanced by chemicals. I opposed the project, but as you may be guessing, I don't have much say in anything anymore. All I can hope is that Captain Cuddlefish will stop it... before it gets worse."

"I hope so as well..." Coral muttered.

"I found your dad," Octola suddenly said. "He's being held in that structure in the distance." Octola pointed to a huge, metallic structure built into the side of a mountain.

"I'm surprised that you Octolings have that sort of tech," Mako stated.

Octola glared at that. "Just because we live underground, doesn't mean we aren't smart and adapt with our resources."

"I apologize, ma'am," Mako instantly said, earning chuckles from Coral and Kai.

"Let's move," Octola declared, pocking her phone. "Follow me, I know my way around this place very well after sneaking around a bunch. I am pretty sure I can get us there without alerting any of the other Octarians."

The journey was long, but as Octola thought, none of the other Octarians seemed to know the path systems that Octola did. They went through pipes, under structures in secret paths, and even through some abandoned buildings. Coral couldn't stop looking around and wondering just how all this was being held together or was developed in the first place. The Octolings must be very resourceful to make all the advancements they did during their 101 years underground.

"Here we are," Octola stated. They were standing outside the steel structure built into the mountain, where Coral could see a vent grate right before them. "By passing through these vents in our squid and octopus forms, we can travel through the building without being detected... just don't swim over grates pointing towards the floor."

"Additionally, we're going to need to crawl," Kai noted. "Since our inks are harmful to one another, we can't swim through ink at all in there."

"Let's go, lead the way mom," Coral stated. Octola nodded, shifting into an octopus and phasing through the metallic bars, with Coral and her friends following close behind. The ducts were dusty and dark, but light coming through the grates in the floor were enough to light the way. Unfortunately, they needed to basically cling to the wall while moving, and it was a very slow process as they weren't in actual ink, and the duct was too narrow to shift back into humanoid form. Finally, they stopped over a single grate, where Octola seemed to pull a rope out of nowhere and tied it into the grate before she fell through, followed by the Inklings.

"Dad!" Orabelle whispered, looking towards the cell.

"Orabelle?"General Bay gasped, standing up suddenly. "W-what are you doing here?"

"What's going on over there!?" a voice shouted, as footsteps sounded through the hall. Octola quickly pinned herself against the wall, and when an Octoling with black tentacles rounded the corner, a sharp blow to the head by Octola knocked her out cold.

"We'll explain later, dad," Orabelle stated. "For now, we need to get out of here!"

"Allow me," Octola said, typing on a control panel nearby before sliding a clearance card she picked off the black tentacled Octoling. The cell opened instantly, with General Bay coming out and hugging his daughter instantly.

"Climb up and slip through the grate," Octola stated. "I'll be right behind you."

"You are..." General Bay pondered, looking at Octola.

"Coral's mother," Octola replied.

General Bay looked surprised, before nodding. "Thank you for aiding my daughter,"

"Just go," Octola hissed, looking back. "I hear another one coming!"

General Bay immediately obeyed, climbing the rope, followed quickly by Orabelle. A dull thud was heard below of Octola knocking out another Octoling, and before long, Coral, Kai, Mako and Octola all climbed up the rope, and as quickly as they could, crawled through the duct in Squid and Octopus forms, managing to make it to the entrance grate and slip out in due time.

"We... actually did it," Coral panted, smiling to herself.

"Seems like I missed the party," a sudden voice said, causing them all to jump. A red tentacled Inkling was standing there in Octoling gear, holding a blue Ink Brush in his hand.

"Do you guys have mind control technology as well?" Mako asked, looking at the new Inkling with caution.

"I'm on your side, idiot," the newcomer hissed, glaring. "Agent 3 of the Squidbeak Splatoon. And I believe that you four are in massive trouble for what you have done."

General Bay stepped forward, saluting. "Agent 3, I am Agent Cyan. I take full responsibility for the events of today, and will give a report to Captain Cuddlefish myself with my daughter, as I do not know the full story myself."

Agent 3 thought for a moment, before finally nodding. "Very well, I will leave it up to the Captain on what should be done. All of you follow me... including the Octoling. She will need to be questioned as well."

"But-" Coral was about to interject. Agent 3 turned to glare at her, but Octola was already resting a hand on Coral's shoulder.

"It's ok, Coral," Octola stated. "I am more then willing to come along and get questioned."

"Then let's be off," Agent 3 ordered.

XxXxXxX

"I see," Captain Cuddlefish said, scratching his chin. "So that is the whole story."

"Seems like it," Agent 3 said. "General Bay was captured by Octolings, and these four trouble makers decided to follow after him despite knowing full well about us."

"Acid ink, Coral fighting her own mother, and a team up to rescue Agent Cyan," Cuddlefish chuckled. "I dare say that makes quite a story." Cuddlefish walked over to Coral, looking at her cheek. "Yup, that is definitely going to scar, but it could've been a lot worse had it hit you instead of just grazing you. Regardless, I believe you four should go home and rest after the adventure you just had down here."

"They... they aren't in trouble!?" Agent 3 asked, flabbergasted. "But Captain, they broke the law, a law you made yourself! No Inkling shall enter Octo-Valley, ever! The only exceptions are Agents!"

"These four display great promise in battle already, and any second later Agent Cyan was in that cell could've spelled his death if Operation Dissolve went through," Cuddlefish explained. "We might not have destroyed every vial, as one was used on Coral, so I think we still got some work to do hunting down that acid ink. Additionally, Agent Cyan has chosen to take responsibility for this one, so I am not going to press these four youngsters on anything. I'm sure these four won't be tattling about what they see or know, especially since two of them are daughters of agents already."

"I can't believe this," Agent 3 sighed, shaking his head. He let out a small sigh, relaxing his shoulders a bit. "Fine, whatever. As long as they never, EVER enter Octo-Valley again, I'm fine with it." Despite wearing Octoling goggles, a chill went down the spines of Purple Rain when he glanced at them, as if they could feel the glare that he was giving them, saying "or else".

"Octola, thanks for protecting the young ones," Cuddlefish nodded towards her. "I know Agent Blue and Cyan trust you, and I do as well... You can go."

"Mom," Coral said, pulling her into a hug. "I'll miss you..."

"I'll miss you too, but as long as I know you are alive, that is all I need," Octola looked at Coral. "Just remember, do NOT come back down... understand?"

"I won't..." Coral sighed.

Octola smiled sadly, and turned to all of the other Inklings there. "Until there is peace between Inklings and Octolings, then. I just pray that day comes soon."

"As do I, Octola," Cuddlefish sighed, smiling. "As do I."

Octola smiled, waving at all of them and rushing off. Coral sighed, wiping away a tear that was threatening to fall, as she watched her mother get smaller and smaller in the distance, until she could no longer see her.

"Right then," Cuddlefish stated, turning to Agent 3 and General Bay. "I need you two to fill out a written report, and once that is done, I'll dismiss General Bay to take the kids back to Inkopolis safely."

"Yes sir," both agents said, immediately taking the papers from Cuddlefish and getting to work. As they wrote, Coral let her curiosity get the better of her, and began wondering around the camp that Cuddlefish had set up. It was very bare, with a small shack and various plans, maps, and weapons all over the place. Coral wasn't watching where she was going that when she bumped into something, she jumped in shock.

But what she bumped into scared her even more.

A giant snow globe was standing before her, containing a giant, red octopus with a golden samurai helmet. It had piercing green eyes that was staring at Coral, sizing her up. Coral noticed a glowing green scar on one of his tentacles, the very one which was pressing against the glass, as if he was trying to reach out to her.

"Come on, Coral," Cuddlefish's voice suddenly said, as the old Inkling's hand gently grabbed her shoulder and guided her away, but the damage was already done. Octavio sat there in the slow globe, staring after Coral with a look of fury etched on his face.

"So, the hyrbid lives."


	10. Despair

**Welcome to the final chapter of this story. I first want to start this with personally thanking my beta reader, The King of Emerald, and second to thank everyone for reading this story and reviewing it, especially** **D3lph0xL0v3r** **and pokemonking0924, two regular readers of mine who continue to support my stories!**

 **I would like to take this time to announce two things. First, expect the sequel to this story, which takes place during the events of Splatoon 2, to be out sometime late July to early August. Second, and speaking on Splatoon 2, I am starting to stream more often on Twitch, and will be doing some Splatoon 2 streams coming in the future. If you want to check it out, my Twitch name is the same as my FanFiction name: BloodWingdAngel. It would mean a lot if you guys at least went to take a look at it.**

 **This chapter is pretty short in length, but I couldn't think of a way to lengthen it without ruining the overall atmosphere of the chapter. Regardless, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Grounded for an entire month from Turf War," Kai moaned, leaning back on the couch. "Mom and Uncle Toru even locked our weapons away."

Coral sighed as well, clicking the remote and changing the TV channel. Toru and Taki returned from their out of town trip to Teal Bay, and immediately were greeted by both Captain Cuddlefish and General Bay, who explained what had happened while they were gone. Certain details were omitted, such as the identity of Octola, cause if Toru know Octola was still alive, he'd probably rush into Octo-Valley and never return until she was found. After they found out everything that happened, Coral and Kai got the lecture of their lives, and their weapons were locked away after they were declared grounded from Turf War. A fitting punishment, Coral bitterly thought to herself.

"Well, look on the bright side," Coral sighed, watching the news, which was temporarily being managed by two regular squids, as the Squid Sisters seemed to be disappearing from the media eye. "Dad is going to be giving us some training on the side, so at least we can still use our weapons during that time."

"I think Uncle Toru is only doing that because of your fight with Aunt Octola, not that he actually knows it was Octola," Kai shrugged, yawning a little. "Just in case we need to fight for our lives again, he wants us to be better prepared... not that I see us fighting Octolings anytime soon."

"You seem to be taking this better then I thought you would," Coral said, raising an eyebrow at Kai. "Any reason you're so mellow about all this?"

"Well, I'm grounded from Turf War, not leaving the house," Kai pointed out. "I've been finding Turf War less and less fun."

"What are you gonna do for cash then?" Coral asked.

"I might see if I can find a job as a manager somewhere or whatever," Kai shrugged. "I dunno, I'll figure it out. I'm not like you, who already has a job."

Coral frowned, looking at the TV and watching as a news interview with Sheldon appeared on the screen, where he was talking about how he was developing some new weapons and that Inklings should be ready for them in about a month's time. "This sucks... Dad even went as far to let Sheldon know about this, so we just can't buy new weapons until we are un-grounded."

"I mean, he's got a point," Kai stated. "If it were me itching to go back into Turf Wars, I'd be picking up another blaster or something to use for filler."

"Whatever," Coral sighed, turning off the TV. "I'm gonna go out for a bit." But just before she reached the door, a knocking was heard. An ominous feeling washed over the two of them, as the last time this happened they discovered General Bay had been kidnapped. Coral opened the door slowly, to see Orabelle standing there once again, though this time she wasn't crying, or panting as if she ran to get there, though a sad frown was etched on her face.

"Hi, Orabelle," Coral greeted. "What's up?"

"Please don't tell me something happened again," Kai begged, walking up to the door.

"Um... yes and no," Orabelle stated. "Dad is fine, but... it's Mako."

"What about him, did he get stuck in a pipe?" Coral teased, with a small grin.

"He suddenly told me he's leaving Inkopolis, and wants us to meet him down at the station in an hour," Orabelle said. It was as if Coral was punched in the gut, her face falling as she absorbed the words that Orabelle had said.

"Why is he suddenly leaving?" Kai asked, looking confused. "Did something happen?"

"I'm not sure," Orabelle admitted. "But you guys might wanna come with."

Coral opened her mouth to respond, but could only nod in response to what was said, her voice mysteriously gone. Why would Mako suddenly want to leave them, especially after all they had been through together? It didn't make any sense to Coral, but she was hoping that answers would be found when they got to the station. About 7 minutes before the train was about to leave, after getting ready and walking over to where Inkopolis Station was located, Coral and the others meet up with Mako and Brooke.

"Hey Mako," Kai greeted him. "Mind telling me what is with the sudden decision to leave the city?"

Mako grinned excitedly, pulling Brooke close to him. "Brooke got a modeling deal in Calamari County, and believe it or not, they want to also allow me to try out my hand at modeling as well!"

"It's a once in a life time opportunity, but poor Mako here couldn't make up his mind until just this morning," Brooke sighed, shaking her head. "Since the sessions start tomorrow, we need to be there by this afternoon if we want any rest before hand."

"Yeah, it was a hard choice," Mako admitted. "But in the end I though to myself, 'When would I ever get to go to Calamari County?', and since this is such an opportunity, I wanted to take it."

"That's great news! When did you get offered this?" Orabelle asked.

"About a month ago," Mako shrugged.

"So, you have plenty of time to talk to us about it, but never did?" Coral finally spoke, her voice almost cracking. Everyone there turned to look at her, as the voice she spoke in barely sounded like hers at all.

"I'm sorry, Coral, I really am," Mako apologized. "But, I figured that I was surprise you guys... sadly it looks like I took too long deciding, cause the next thing I knew it was the day Brooke was supposed to leave. Then I decided to just go with my gut, and well here I am."

"We'll miss you," Orabelle said sadly. "You better text and call often, and maybe plan a visit or two!"

"I will, don't worry," Mako promised, pulling Orabelle into a hug before turning to Kai.

"By the time you come back, the ladies won't be able to stay away from me," Kai grinned. "So when we hangout, don't be surprised if I got a posse of girls."

Mako laughed, shaking Kai's hand, "I'll keep that in mind." Finally, Mako looked at Coral, who didn't even make eye-contact with him. "Coral, thank you."

"For what?" Coral asked, crossing her arms and turning slightly away, the pit of her stomach twisting inside of her.

"For being a part of Purple Rain," Mako said. "For teaching me, wither you know it or not, a lot during my time with you guys. My experiences here will really help me down the road."

"Whatever," Coral sighed, still refusing to look at Mako, her eyes beginning to burn. "Don't you have a train to catch?"

"Still the tough bean, huh Marshmallow Mascot?" Mako teased, pulling her into a hug. Coral's eyes went wide, before finally accepting the hug and hugging him back, although it was only for a second before Coral pulled away.

"Get out of here," Coral's voice cracked. "And for the love of shrimp, don't do nude modeling. I'd rather not have my name embarrassed or slandered by association with you."

"Wasn't planning on it," Mako grinned, giving them all a thumbs up before getting on the train with Brooke, who waved at them all before the train doors closed, and the giant metal machine roared into life, rolling away slowly before picking up speed and getting faster and faster. Coral bit her lip, unable to contain her emotions anymore. Before the train was completely out of sight, Coral turned sharply around and bolted out of the station.

"Coral, wait!" Kai's voice behind her shouted, but Coral didn't stop sprinting. Her eyes were burning more then ever, tears building up inside and occasionally leaking out, falling as she ran. How could he just leave them like that, not let them know that he was offering a modeling deal and was thinking about taking it? She felt as if she could no longer trust anyone, that the whole world was slowly but surely going to start turning on her. She continued to run, not caring where she was going, barely able to see. She rounded an alleyway and suddenly tripped, falling to the ground. Her glasses flew off her face, shattering feet in front of her. Coral lay there, finally letting everything she had built up come out. She sobbed on the ground, resting her face in her arms, a mixture of different questions and emotions dancing around in her head, causing her to cry more.

"Coral?" Orabelle's voice asked. She felt the touch of Orabelle's hand on her own, her hand pulling away to pull her to her feet. She obeyed it without thinking, as if Orabelle's hand was going to lead her to solace. "Come on, we shouldn't stay in the alleys." She felt Orabelle's hand pulling her, and like before she obeyed without really thinking. They walked on, but Coral couldn't see where she was being taken, her eyes blinded from tears, though she still obeyed Orabelle's hand, trusting it to guide her to where she would be safe. Finally, Coral calmed down enough and blinked out the sea of tears, finding herself on the top of Moray Towers with Orabelle, who was sitting on the ledge overlooking Inkopolis. Coral sat down next to her and wiped her eyes, though she didn't need to see herself to know her face was stained with tear trail makings.

"Here, you... dropped them," Orabelle sadly stated, handing Coral her glasses. Coral took them without a word and examined them. The lenses were almost completely gone, only a few shards of glass remaining within the frame. Though she didn't need them to see, her heart sank even more looking at the face accessory.

"I u-used these... to hide my m-markings a bit better from the world," Coral explained to Orabelle, looking at them. She sniffled, taking a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. "They were my crutch. I thought that as long as they were on my face, my identity was safe and that no Inkling could see what I really was... I guess that was a fool's dream, my markings are still visible even with these on. It's a childish fantasy that these would magically make everything better..."

Orabelle didn't reply for some time, watching Coral, holding her close. Finally, when she spoke, her voice was slow and calming, as if choosing her words carefully. "I know how you must be feeling, Coral... but this is a great opportunity for Mako. It's a once in a life time opportunity for him, to go with Brooke to Calamari County and take up this modeling deal."

"Doesn't change the fact that he is a jerk for not telling us," Coral bitterly snapped, tightening her fist around her glasses.

"No, it doesn't," Orabelle agreed. "But think about it, he struggled with his choice probably because he didn't want to leave us behind, but in the end he must've realized that this chance is too good to pass up. He still promised to visit us and stay in touch... cause he's our friend after all."

"I don't need friends," Coral sighed, almost wanting to run again, but something keep her rooted there. Not Orabelle's arm that was around her, but a feeling of comfort and kinship. It was as if her emotions wanted to run from Orabelle to stay safe, but her heart wanted to stay there and be with her, to be with the only person it felt like it could find comfort in.

"Funny," Orabelle chuckled a little. "You said the same thing the day we met, didn't you?" Coral could only nod at that realization, new tears streaming down her cheeks. Orabelle pulled her into a hug, and Coral sobbed into the shoulder of her best friend. Emotions rose up inside of her as if she was in a tank with raising water, realizing that she needed her friend. She didn't want to lose Orabelle like she was losing Mako, that if that happened she would be nothing more then a shell of her former self. She continued to sob until nothing more came out, and when Orabelle pulled away to look at Coral, she could see that Orabelle was crying as well, her cheeks also stained with the markings of tear trails.

"I... I don't w-want to lose anyone else," Coral hiccuped. "I don't w-want you l-leaving me too."

"I won't," Orabelle promised, drying her own eyes. "I'm not going anywhere for a long time, Coral."

"I'm glad," Coral said, looking down at her glasses and sighing. Just barely two weeks ago, she was on top of the world, having just won the Squid Leagues with Purple Rain, but now she felt as though she was at the bottom, with everyone pushing her down. The only one she felt was trying to help her get back to the surface was Orabelle, the only one attempting to save her from drowning in her own sorrow.

"Hey, Inkopolis Square should be opening some shops today!" Orabelle suddenly said, gripping Coral's hand. "You want to go? Maybe we could get some new clothes and accessories."

"Yeah, that might be fun," Coral nodded, looking at her glasses. "Though I don't think I want anything that covers my eyes this time." Coral then stood up, looking down at the city below, and then at her glasses. "I have used these as a crutch my whole life, thinking that as long as I had them on, everything would be ok... that I wouldn't be judged for my appearance, but all they did was give me the illusion that I was hiding my face... well, no more. I don't care if people see my face, and I don't care how many people guess what I really am." Coral sighed, before tossing the glasses away, causing them to fall down into the streets below, where they could no longer been seen as they passed through the fog that always seemed to be hanging out below Moray Towers.

"Come on," Orabelle smiled, standing up and holding onto Coral's hand again. "Maybe while we are out we can harass Sheldon into telling us what he's working on. There might be a new roller he's working on that you could kick some serious butt with once you can get back into Turf War."

"Yeah," Coral smiled. "I'd like that..."


End file.
